


Fighting in the face of tragedy

by Kasverah



Category: Naruto
Genre: Drinking, F/F, F/M, Fox Demons, Hurt/Comfort, I Ship It, I'm Bad At Tagging, Long, M/M, Memory Loss, Memory Magic, University, blood just happens, dead bodies, fox spirits, probably sex if I'm honest, some mild cross dressing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-08
Updated: 2018-10-19
Packaged: 2019-03-02 11:52:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 28,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13317516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kasverah/pseuds/Kasverah
Summary: This story is set pretty much in modern day, though things like seers, clairvoyants, and exorcists and the like are common, and accepted, part of normal life. As are curses. Naruto is about to go to university, and has been followed his whole life by a curse, which he hardly knows anything about...





	1. Chapter 1

 Something was making the most annoying noise in Naruto’s room…it was obnoxiously loud, and repetitive and- _ oooOOOH SHIT THAT’S MY ALARM! _

 Naruto fell out of bed, hitting the floor hard, and swearing.

 “Again Naruto?” Came a yell from downstairs.

 “I’M FINE!” He yelled, hearing a muffled ‘Yeah but is the furniture.’ Struggling out of the duvet, which had wrapped itself around him in his descent, he fought his way to the chest of drawers. Opening it, he was for a moment confused. All his school uniform was gone. “HEY, OLD HAG, WHERE’S MY UNIFORM?” He screamed out of his door.

 “I’M NOT AN OLD HAG!”

 “OKAY, YOUNG HAG?”

 “JUST FOR THAT I’M NOT TELLING YOU!”

 Naruto swore, and went to the airing cupboard.  _ Nope, no uniform in here, _ he thought, now grumpy. He heard the front door go, and yelled “NOT IT, UNLESS YOU WANT GUESTS TO BE GREETED IN UNDERWEAR?” Tsunade, from downstairs, yelled curses up the stairs, and he heard the front door open, and Kiba’s voice drifting up the stairs. “DOG BOY!” Naruto yelled, grinning, and running down the stairs, grabbing Kiba in a violent hug, and hanging off him, Akamaru wagging his tail in greeting.

 “Oh wow, how honoured I am to be greeted by you in your undies.” Kiba smirked, ruffling Naruto’s hair.

 “Tsunade hid my uniform!” Naruto pouted, and Kiba began to snigger. “What? It’s not funny!” Naruto grumbled indignantly, releasing his friend. “Akamaru, they’re all so mean.” He said, bending down, and rubbing the dog’s ears.

 “You…” Kiba snorted into his hand, “You do know that we got rid of your uniform three weeks ago? You burnt it ceremoniously…” Naruto stared at him blankly, wondering why in hell he would do that. Then it dawned on him.

 “OH MY GOD I’M GOING TO UNIVERSITY!!!” He screamed, beaming at Kiba, and jumping up to hug him again.

 “Is that the thanks I get for looking after you for all these years?” Tsunade said, sniffing in mock sadness. “You won’t be wanting your going away breakfast then?”

 “Oh my god, you cooked?” Naruto said, open mouthed.

 “You really must not want it.” She said, icily, “Fine, fine, I’m sure I can manage to eat it all myself…” Naruto leapt after her crying out in regret, only to stop in the doorway to the kitchen. The spread on the table looked amazing, there was maple syrup, strawberries, cream, sugar, lemon juice, bacon, pancakes, peppers, cream cheese, and a pot of steaming tea.

 “Oh my god…” Naruto was about to tease her some more by asking who had made all of this, but decided not to, just in case she really did carry out her threat.

 “No nudity at the breakfast table.” She said, tossing him a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. Quickly he pulled them on, and the three of them sat down to eat. It tasted just as amazing as it looked, Tsunade didn’t cook often, but when she did it was always glorious. He got to his sixth pancake, and began to feel stuffed.

 “It’s so good…but I’m so full…” He moaned, and Kiba grinned, tossing Akamaru some bacon.

 “Tell you what.” Tsunade grinned. “If you promise to visit once a month, I’ll make you food every time.”

 “It’s not like I’m going far away.” He replied, weighing up whether to eat a seventh. “I’m only going to be like…half an hour away.”

 “Yeah Aunty, we’ll be back all the time. Especially when Naruto realises he’s forgotten something. Which I’m betting will be every few days.” Akamaru pawed at his leg, and he dropped a second bit of bacon for him. Tsunade wasn’t actually Kiba’s Aunt, it was just an affectionate term, because Naruto, when he wasn’t calling her old hag, also called her that. She was his godmother, but acted like an aunt, from being caring to utterly irresponsible. Half the time Naruto was making sure she didn’t do something stupid, like try and drink a fever away, or wash reds with whites. But generally she was the best caregiver Naruto could have asked for.

 Naruto finished off his seventh, then leant back, feeling overloaded to the brim.

 “Your food is so tastyyyyyy…” He complained, wishing he had a real second stomach, not just the imaginary one he had as a kid.

 “Right, come on, you need to get ready and pack.” Tsunade said, getting up and clearing the table.

 “He hasn’t packed yet?” Kiba said in exasperation as he also stood.

 “…should he have?” Tsunade said, looking confused, and Kiba sighed in despair.

 “Come on.” He said, heaving Naruto up.

 “But…pancakes…” Naruto whined.

 “I’ll pack you some.” Tsunade sighed, and Naruto reluctantly got up, and went upstairs with Kiba. Akamaru stayed in the kitchen, looking hopefully at Tsunade, tail wagging hesitantly.

 “…oh fine.” She said, opening a cupboard and getting out some marrow biscuits she kept hidden, and the tail began to thump enthusiastically.

 Upstairs Kiba was helping Naruto shove everything he would need into suitcases and rucksacks.

 “What do I even need? I mean obviously clothes, but what else?” Naruto said, shoving some shirts into a bag.

 “Well, you’ll need your laptop, pans and stuff, your course books…”

 “Yeah I know that, but…what else? Tsunade gave me a bag of kitchen stuff, I have my course books…” He pointed at a worn canvas bag. “And my laptop is in my rucksack. But I feel like I’m missing some crucial things.”

 “Well…You’ll need some books to read, your art stuff, pillows, duvets, bathroom stu-”

 “Wait wait wait.” Naruto interrupted. “I’m going to need to write all this down…”

 They battled through his stuff slowly, eventually cutting it down to just the important things, though Kiba had to argue him into cutting down his manga collection to bring, and finally they had one rucksack, two suitcases, a canvas bag, and a duvet and pillow bag.

 “I seriously don’t think all this is going to fit in your room.” Kiba said, uncertainly.

 “It’ll be fine.” Naruto grinned. They loaded up the car with Tsunade, then Kiba said goodbye, and agreed to meet up when he got to the campus later. The journey was pleasant, the scenery flashing by, and Naruto kept talking to Tsunade about his course, he was going to be doing psychology. He had studied it during sixth from, but this was going to be much more exciting.

 “And then in final year, we run our own experiment!” He said, grinning broadly.

 “Steady there kid, first you’ve got to get through the first two years.” Despite her critical tone, she was smiling. It was going to be sad Naruto not being around all the time. There was the upside that now she could have full run of the house all the time. It really would be quiet though, she’d just have to throw plenty of parties. Some part of her however, was quietly worried. She remembered the warning, perhaps that time was drawing near…was Naruto really ready? She had always shielded him from clairvoyants and the like. Well, she couldn’t protect him forever. She just had to put her faith in him. Whatever would come would come. And it wasn’t like he was stupid. He’d ride the storm. Or so she hoped.

 Tsunade was distracted from her thoughts by a shout from Naruto as they drove onto the University grounds.

 “THERE! OVER THERE! THAT’S ME AND KIBA’S STUDENT ACCOMMODATION!” Naruto and Kiba had requested to be in the same flat together, they’d picked one that was near the edge of campus so that they were equally close to the uni buildings and the town. It also helped that it was in a more reasonable price range than some of the others. Tsunade pulled up outside it, and Naruto jumped out the car and ran up to the building.

 “Hi there!” Said a friendly girl in one of the university’s T-shirts, holding a clipboard.. She had four spiky buns on her head, and a bright smile.

 “Hi! I’m Naruto! Uzumaki!”

 “Uzumaki…Uzumaki….gotcha!” She grinned at him. “You’re one of mine! We’re in flat twenty five of Bronte House! Let me show you in! Oh, do you need a hand with your bags?”

 “Nah, it’s cool!” Naruto said, going to pick up one of the suitcases and the rucksack as Tsunade followed with the other bags. “Oh, this is Aunty Tsunade!”

 “Hi there! Please, let me take something?”

 “No worries kid.” Tsunade said, hoisting the bags onto her shoulders and lifting the suitcase as if it weighed nothing. “I got this.”

 “Oookay…” The girl turned and led them through the building and up four flights of stairs. “I’m Temari by the way, I’m the student rep for flats 21 to 25!”

 “Awesome!” Naruto beamed at her, and she couldn’t help but smile back.

 “Sorry there are so many stairs, we do have a lift, but it’s currently out of order.”

 “No worries.” Naruto said. “By the way, has a guy called Kiba arrived yet?”

 “Hm? Um, Kiba...Kiba…”

 “Kiba? Inuzuka? He has a dog.”

 “Ah, the one with the dog. I’ll never work out how he bribed the accommodation rep of Bronte into letting him have a dog…”

 “He has a way with words…” Tsunade said, mentally adding  _ ‘and bribery’ _ .

 “Well, here’s your flat.” Temari flicked through her clipboard. “Doesn’t look like dog-boy is here yet.” Naruto stifled a snort-giggle as he noticed Kiba’s common nickname being tagged again. “There are 6 rooms, A to F, and only two other people have moved in. Sasuke and Sakura. Flat’s B and D, you’re flat E so you’ll be opposite Sasuke and next to Sakura. Kiba is the other side of you in flat F.”

 “I am NEVER going to remember all that.” Naruto said, overwhelmed.

 “You’re flat E. Kiba’s in F. That’s all you need to know.” She smiled, unlocking the door, and passing him a set of two keys with a blue disc attached to it with ‘25E’ written on it. “Don’t lose this. The big flat key is for the door to your flat, and the small one is for your room. The disk swipes over the reader at the main door for when the accommodation locks up for the night. Welcome to Brighthelm University.” She pointed back down the corridor. “I’m in flat 20. I’ll be around all day, but if you need anything, knock on my door, or slip a note under it. Oh, I almost forgot. Here’s your welcome pack!” She delved into a bag on her side, and pulled out a booklet and flat folder with the Uni logo stamped on it. “I’ll let you get settled. I’ll be popping in around five O’clock to see how you’re all settling in. Enjoy your first day!” She grinned, and trotted back down the stairs. Naruto and Tsunade shuffled into the flat. There was a short hallway with three doors on either side leading to their own rooms, and ahead was a large open living space with a TV, some sofa’s and chairs, a kitchenette and a dining table.

 “Faanceeyyy!” Naruto sang, before opening his room door, and dumping his stuff on the floor. It was a nice bright room, a bed on one side, a desk and cupboard on the other, a window at the end, and a small bathroom by the door. “Very fancy!”

 Tsunade also put down the luggage, and let out a whistle.

 “It’s pretty nice, I have to admit. How much are we paying for this place again?” She asked, and Naruto poked her in the side. “I know I know, it was in the reasonable range. I’m still impressed.” They began unpacking Naruto’s belongings, filling up the shelves and drawers in the desk, and hanging up his clothes. Naruto quickly set up his laptop, connecting to the internet through what he thought was a method that was much more complicated than it needed to be.

 “Right kid.” Tsunade said, ruffling his hair. “I need to go, here are leftovers from breakfast, and some boxes of food. I don’t expect you to manage all your meals for the next week, you’re going to be far too enthusiastic about everything else, so here are seven meals, make sure you eat at least one a day, unless you manage to cook properly like some sort of sensible human being.” She handed him a bag with the food in it. “Also I have this for you. I know I’m not that far away, but knowing you, you’ll forget who I am by next Tuesday.” She pulled out a small book, and Naruto opened it at the first page. It was a photo album with some pictures from home, and some quotes he recognised as things Tsunade would say to him, like ‘if there’s not enough gin to make it better, then it’s not worth it.’ Naruto felt suddenly emotional, and stood up, wrapping Tsunade in a tight hug. “Careful pet,” She said, hugging him back, “or I might think you like me.”

 “You’re the one who made me a memory book.” Came Naruto’s muffled response.

 “Come on kid, it’s going to be fun.”

 “Yeah.” Naruto looked up at her, and she poked him in the nose.

 “Got your nose.”

 Naruto was about to respond when there was a loud bark from outside.

 “AKAMARU!” Naruto yelled, and flung his door open, the dog bounding in and knocking him over.

 “Naruto!” Kiba grinned. “Long time no see!” They both laughed, and Tsunade gathered up her things.

 “See you round kid.” She climbed over the dog and boy, and waved goodbye, leaving the flat.

 “She’s rubbish with goodbyes isn’t she.” Said Kiba, and Naruto nodded, not mentioning his tearful response. “Have you met any of the other flat members yet?”

 “Not yet.” Naruto replied as Akamaru trotted out the room and began sniffing around the kitchen.

 “Kiba, come and sort your room out.” Came Kiba’s mother’s voice.

 “Coming!” He called, and headed into his room. Naruto was just about to follow when he heard “OHMYGOSHYOU’RESOCUTE!” from behind him. He turned to see a girl with medium length pink hair crouching down beside Akamaru, stroking his head, and scratching behind his ears.

 “He’s called Akamaru.” Naruto said, wandering over to her.

 “He’s lovely! How old is he?”

 “I’m not entirely sure.” Naruto scratched the back of his head.

 “Did you get him when you were young then? Or is he a rescue?”

 “Oh! No!” Naruto said, awkwardly, “He’s not mine, he’s my best friend’s, Kiba’s.” The girl smiled at him, and he felt all warm and fluffy inside. She seemed great, and Akamaru liked her, which was a good sign.

 “I always wanted a dog. I was told that there would be a dog in this flat, it’s so cool! And you’re just the most handsome dog aren’t you.” She said to Akamaru, fluffing up his ears as he made happy grizzle noises.

 “Careful, he’ll become big headed with all those compliments.” Kiba said from behind Naruto, carrying a box of kitchen equipment.

 “You must be Kiba.” The girl said, standing up. “I’m Sakura.”   
 “I’m Naruto.” The blonde smiled, feeling embarrassed, it felt like being at school again, introducing yourself to the class at the beginning of term. Though it was more relaxed than that.

 “Have you met room B yet?” She asked, quietly.

 “No?” Naruto said, confused at her tone.

 “It’s some guy called Sasuke, he was already here when I arrived, but I still haven’t seen him…” She looked at the door to room B suspiciously, and Naruto shrugged.

 “We’ll see him when the flat rep comes over.”

 “That’s true. Well, I’m going to make some tea. Would you like some?”

 “Sure!” Kiba said, going to his cupboard and beginning to fill it.

 “I…I’m a bit of a tea snob…” Naruto admitted.

 “I have Earl Grey?” Sakura said, smiling.

 “Perfect!” Naruto grinned, then remembered the food in his bedroom. “CRAP!” he cried, and ran back to get them, shoving them in the fridge.

 “I…really hope that’s not crap…” Came a voice from their front door. They turned to see a girl with a long blonde ponytail dragging a small suitcase in, followed by a middle aged woman.

 “Oh Ino, this place is lovely!”

 “Hi!” Sakura said, trotting up to her, “I’m Sakura! Which room are you in?”

 “Room C. I still haven’t had an answer…” She glanced suspiciously at Naruto.

 “What? OH! NO! No it’s food! The best food in the world! Tsunade ma-” Naruto was interrupted by Kiba.

 “Oh god no you got him talking about Tsunade’s cooking, run, run run run!” And he pushed Sakura into Ino, who looked at the pink haired girl, and raised an eyebrow. Sakura blushed, and jumped back, stammering apologies.

 “Why don’t you help me with my room?” Ino suggested.

 “I’d love to!” Sakura beamed, and so Ino thanked her mum, and said goodbye, as both of the girls went into room C.

 “Ah young love…” Kiba smiled, swinging an arm over Naruto’s shoulders.

 “What?” Naruto said, looking at him, puzzled.

 “…stay oblivious forever Naruto, please? It’s adorable.”

 Just as Naruto was about to retort, the door to room B opened, the door opposite Naruto’s, the door to the so far reclusive ‘Sasuke’. A dark haired boy stepped out, sent an icy glare at Naruto and Kiba, and went to the fridge.

 “Um…hi! I’m Naruto.” His greeting was ignored. “Um, you’re Sasuke right?” The raven blanked them, took out a bottle of aloe juice, and shut the fridge, walking back to his room. “Oh, you like that stuff, I keep meaning to-” The door to room B slammed shut. “…try it. Or, you know, you could treat us like unsightly furniture.”

 “Oh Naruto…it’s just in your fur- _ nature. _ ”

 “Get out.”

 “Hey, it wasn’t a  _ bed _ pun…”

 “Now.” Naruto jabbed Kiba in the stomach, and he laughed. They both went to Kiba’s room, and helped his parents unpack his stuff. Soon the room looked more like Kiba lived there. A dog bed in the corner, dog toys by the bed, pictures of Kiba and his friends and a tonne of him and Naruto plastering the walls.

 “I didn’t bring any photo’s…” Naruto said, sadly.

 “Dude, you live half an hour away, we can go get some this weekend. Or if you’re super lazy, we can print some out on my printer.” He grinned and sang “I have photo paper!” Naruto grinned, ordering the books on Kiba’s shelf.

 “Almost perfect.” He said, admiring the room.

 “What’s missing?” Kiba’s mum asked.

 “Dog hair. Covering everything.” Naruto replied, and Kiba’s parents laughed. But Kiba groaned and smacked his forehead.

 “Brushes. I forgot Akamaru’s brush.”

 “That old one was pretty worn anyway.” His dad said, gathering up their things. “You might as well go into town tomorrow and pick a new one up.”

 Kiba’s family bid him goodbye, and the pair went into Naruto’s room and set to work. Where Kiba had photo’s, Naruto had drawings. There were a lot of Akamaru and other dogs he knew, some of his friends, some of anime characters.

 “Dude, I forgot about this!” Kiba said, pulling out a canvas painting of himself, Naruto and Akamaru from about four years ago. “This was the first time you worked in oil paint wasn’t it?”

 “Yeah.” Naruto smiled bashfully, it was one of his favourite pieces. The chins were a slightly odd shape, and Kiba’s left eye didn’t quite match his right, whilst Akamaru’s nose was too big. But despite all that, the picture worked. It caught Akamaru’s joy and excitement, Kiba’s mischievous nature, and Naruto’s bliss at being with them both. He treasured it.

 Kiba pulled out the CD player, and they set up some music, Kiba getting distracted and air-drumming as Naruto stuffed his clothes into random drawers.

 “This is why.” Kiba said, as if understanding something.

 “This is why what?”

 “Why you can literally never find the clothes you’re looking for. You’re so chaotic.”

 “Hey now,” Naruto said, defensively, “I can always find socks!”

 “Matching?”

 “…shut up…”

 The two of them finished, going out into the main room. It was already three, and they hadn’t eaten since breakfast.

 “We could eat more pancakes…” Naruto said, considering the options, “They won’t be good tomorrow.”

 “You don’t have to justify it to me.” Kiba said, as they went to the fridge. There was a thud at the door, and stammered apologies. They both peered into the hallway, and saw the door open, and Temari helping a small girl with dark black hair and almost grey eyes into the room, bags tumbling into the hall. There was a sort of entourage with her, a tall man with long dark hair, a very pretty woman, again with long dark hair, a child who again matched the black sleek hair, and behind them was a boy around their age. The group all matched each other in looks, and all had strange eyes. Kiba made a non-committal noise as he looked at them, but Naruto abandoned his food, and went to go and help.

 “I’m so sorry!” The girl gasped, and the boy behind her stared judgmentally at the hallway.

 “Come on sis, just pick them up.” Said the younger girl, and Temari stood there awkwardly.

 “Don’t worry, I can help.” Naruto said, picking up several bags.

 “Hinata, remember your manners.” Said the one Naruto presumed was her father.

 “Oh, yes, sorry, um, thank you.” Hinata said quietly, blushing at Naruto.

 “No worries.” Naruto grinned.

 “Well…here’s your welcome pack.” Temari said smiling uncertainly, “I’m just down in room 20, but I’ll be by the entrance all day. I’ll be popping around at about five.” She quickly escaped the penetrating stares of the family, who followed Hinata and Naruto into room A. Naruto put down the bags and left, saying “it’s fine, really!” to all the ‘thank you’s and ‘sorry for the trouble’s from her family. When he came out, the older boy and Kiba seemed to be having a staring match.

 “Um…can we…help you?” Naruto interrupted.

 “This guy just threatened me.” Kiba spat.

 “I threatened your mutt.” The older boy replied.

 “That’s threatening me, bastard.”

 “I’m just saying, if your mutt lays a claw on Hinata, I will make your lives misery.”

 “Well then we’re all good. Akamaru would never even nibble someone.” Naruto said, trying to diffuse the situation.

 “I’m going to be checking up on my cousin. If you cause her any trouble…” The boy turned on his heel, and left.

 “Some nerve…” Kiba grumbled. “Food! We were going to have pancakes!”

 Naruto and Kiba returned to the kitchen and began heating up the pancakes. The smell brought Ino and Sakura out of room C and Naruto served them pancakes with their choice of toppings. Soon Hinata’s family left, and she awkwardly entered the kitchen, loitering by the doorway.

 “Hey, want some pancakes?” Naruto asked, spotting her.

 “Um…I don’t want to be any bother…or-”

 “Pancakes are for everyone!” Naruto said, dishing her up some as she smiled and joined them. The group began laughing at Kiba’s terrible puns, and fussing Akamaru, who got significantly more scraps than he was use to.

 “Does he do any tricks?” Ino asked as they were clearing up their mess, and Naruto laughed.

 “Does he…of course! Watch watch watch!” Kiba said, pulling out his phone, and putting some music on before going into the centre of the room, and standing to attention. “Akamaru? Come. Routine time.” Akamaru dashed over to his side, and sat down, his eyes on Kiba’s, and they began to do tricks where Kiba would go down on one knee and Akamaru would jump over him, or run between his legs in a figure of eight, or Kiba would spin around and the dog would follow him, Kiba motioning and Akamaru jumping up to put his paws on his masters shoulders as they pretended to dance, ending with Kiba pointing his finger at Akamaru and saying “bang!” so that the dog rolled over dramatically. The group clapped enthusiastically as Kiba stroked Akamaru, rubbing his back, and pulling out a hide chew from his pocket so that the dog could sit down and happily worry at his treat.

 “You have no idea how long he’s been perfecting that.” Naruto laughed as the girls gushed praise.

 “I would love to be able to do that…” Sakura said wistfully.

 “I could teach you sometime!” Kiba grinned.

 “That would be awesome!” she grinned. They all sat down in the living area, relaxing as they waited for five o’clock to arrive. Temari ended up being ten minutes late, and just as Ino was considering going to find her there was a knock at their door. Sakura jumped up to go and answer it, but froze as they all saw door B open and Sasuke come out, glancing coldly at the others, before opening the door.

 “Hi gang!” Temari said cheerfully, and Sasuke followed her into the main room. “I thought I’d run through some rules first.” They all pulled out their welcome packs, and went through the building rules, ordinary things like no smoking indoors, no pets, with them being the exception, no deep fryers, no letting someone else live in their building, ordinary things. Soon she was telling them about fresher’s week, there would be several events during the week, a market on Monday, selling everything from clothes to food, and posters for their rooms. There was stand up comedy, songs, and other performances at the union building on Tuesday, fresher’s fair on Wednesday, where all the societies would have stalls to talk about their activities and would have sign up sheets, nothing on Thursday, a chance to relax and go to town, a treasure hunt on Friday, and free entry to clubs and cinema’s in town on Saturday, though Temari emphasised that this did not include food and drinks. Their welcome packs had an account for them on the Uni servers for them to look up their lectures and seminars, which would start the following Monday. “So don’t get too wasted on Sunday, or you’ll both be in misery at your morning introduction lecture, and probably miss important things.” The group agreed, everyone enthusiastic about the activities apart from Sasuke, who seemed indifferent. “Alright. Now I’ve got some bonding activities to play with you, don’t worry, nothing too embarrassing. First, I want you to go around and tell us a bit about yourself. I’ll start, so, for example, I’m Temari, I’m your house rep, I’m in third year, and in my first year I got stranded on the Chemistry building’s roof.” The group laughed, and she grinned, “But I’m not telling you why just yet. Right, you next Ino.”

 “Well, as you know, I’m Ino, I’m bi, I’m studying fine art, and…oh, and I once broke a guys nose because he punched my friend.” Kiba looked shocked, but Naruto snorted into his hands.

 “Um…I’m Sakura, I am going to be studying English lit, and when I was eight I had an argument with my mum and ran off, they looked for me for hours and almost called the police until my dad found me in the cupboard under the stairs…” Ino smirked, and the others all grinned at her. “Oh, and I’m bi as well.” She blushed, avoiding looking at Ino.

 “Okay, I’m Kiba, I’m going to be doing animal behaviour studies alongside a veterinary degree. I managed to bribe the housemaster to let me keep Akamaru in here by giving him one of the priceless, historical, and very old, bottles of wine my parents have collected. With their permission. They may like wine, but they like dogs more. We have six dogs at home, including Akamaru that’s seven.” Hinata had her mouth open, but Naruto just cackled.

 “Okay okay,” Naruto said, “I’m Naruto, I’m doing psychology, and these lines on my cheeks? I’ve had them since I was a little kid, dunno why.” Sasuke suddenly looked at him, and narrowed his eyes. “I like to draw a lot, mostly animals. I really like drawing animals. And I grew up with Kiba.” He grinned at Kiba, who grinned back, though for a second Naruto thought he saw him glaring at Sasuke.

 “Um…I’m Hinata…I’m going to be studying chemistry, I’m…quite good at martial arts…and um…my cousin goes here and is a second year.”

 “Oh?” Temari said, raising an eyebrow. “Is he doing chemistry too?” Hinata nodded. “What’s his name? I might be mentoring him this year!”

 “Neji…”

 “Hmmm…Hyuuga?” again Hinata nodded, “I’m not tutoring him, but I know who he is. Cool! The labs here are awesome. But watch out for Orochimaru, that goes for you guys too Naruto, Kiba, he’s a lab technician for the sciences, and there have been a few…incidents. Just…don’t end up alone with him, ‘kay?” They all nodded, and she turned to Sasuke, who was still staring at Naruto.

 “I’m Sasuke. I’ll be studying Psychology as well. My family has a history of seers, and is interested in spirits.” He stared at Naruto, as if expecting something, and Naruto looked around at the others, none of whom seemed to know what Sasuke was expecting, though Kiba had a dark expression. The raven sighed. “Oh, and I’m gay.” Sakura looked despondent, almost disappointed, but otherwise everyone just smiled.

 “Okay guys,” she said, smiling, “I have to go to the other rooms, but I have a project for you. In here,” she pulled out a small pouch, “I have a bunch of topics. It is up to you guys, as a group, to research and make a display on the topic. However you want. It can be a performance, a poster, a powerpoint, you name it. On Sunday we’ll have the union building, so just get it finished by Saturday. If you’re going to need anything special, like a computer and projector for a powerpoint, let us know by Friday. We’ll try to make sure everyone’s needs are met, but we do have limited equipment. So the sooner you let us know, the more likely you are to get one. But no getting stuff just because you think you might need it.” She pulled out a laminated piece of card, and smirked. “You guys are lucky, you’ll have an advantage with dog-boy here on your team.” She turned it round, and they saw the word ‘canines’ written on it, Kiba cheered and punched the air, Sakura squealed happily as the rest smiled, apart from Sasuke, who Naruto was beginning to think never smiled, or showed any sort of happy emotion. “Right guys, I’m off, but you guys can make a start, or watch something or whatever. Deadline’s Saturday. Have fun!” With that she left, and Kiba immediately began to spout random facts about dogs, Sakura contributing, the other two girls agreeing with most of what was said, though they had to calm Sakura and Kiba down when they realised they could do a dog dance. Just as Naruto was offering to draw something Sasuke spoke.

 “I think we should do something about foxes.” The air suddenly went cold between Sasuke and Kiba, who slowly stood up, glaring at him. “What? It’s a valid topic?”

 “Do you have some sort of issue?” Kiba said, and Naruto looked confused. He’d seen Kiba get defensive before, usually around seers, or clairvoyants, or anyone with any connection to the occult. Sasuke stood up, glaring back.

 “No, do you?”

 “Why are you suggesting foxes? It’s almost like you have some sort of ulterior motive, randomly suggesting something like that.” Kiba spat.

 “It’s almost like foxes are canines.” He hissed back.

 “That’s not why you’re suggesting it though, IS IT.” Kiba said, raising his voice.

 “If you’ll remember, my family are SEERS. My mother SAW a fox, now unless you’re saying something else, maybe, just maybe, we’re meant to use foxes in our presentation.” Sasuke was glaring so hard at Kiba that Naruto thought they might actually fight if he didn’t step in.

 “Guys, we can use foxes. They don’t have to be the focus, but we can use them. It’s cool. They are canines. But let’s just…not let them dominate?” He tried to make peace between the two of them.

 “Fine.” Kiba said, still glaring, but sitting down, Sasuke following suit. The tone in the room had become less enjoyable, so Naruto decided to make things better.

 “Guys, let’s not work on the project tonight, lets watch a movie. I can make popcorn?” The girls agreed quickly, and Kiba reluctantly agreed as well. Sasuke nodded, suddenly more interested in staying in the room than he had been before. As they made snacks, Sakura suggested that they all go to the market together tomorrow. She was quite a good cook, and would love to make meals with them all. The room agreed that it would be nice to have some meals as a group, even Sasuke seemed to warm to the idea, saying he could make some nice curries. They all ended up watching a kids movie, laughing as they realised how many hidden adult jokes there were, and the girls getting teary despite protesting that they weren’t attached to the characters. They ended up watching terrible late night TV, and soon it was late, and they were all tired. Saying goodnight, Hinata and Ino went to bed first, Sakura chatted for a bit, then headed to bed, and eventually Naruto felt his eyes trying to close.

 “Right, I’m going to sleep. Night guys. He fussed Akamaru one more time, then went to his bedroom. He shut his door, and heard movement, it sounded like Sasuke and Kiba were going to their rooms too, though he heard muttering from outside. He pressed his ear to his door and heard Kiba’s voice saying “…and I won’t let you mess with him.” Confused, he heard Sasuke respond, “I don’t intend to-” There was a pause, and Naruto could almost hear him making quotation marks with his fingers. “-‘mess’ with him, I can’t help what my family is. If you’re an overprotective mother dog, don’t blame me. If something’s going on, I’m not going to be able to help being involved. It’s in my fucking blood.” Naruto frowned. “Fine” came Kiba’s whispers again. “But if you…forget it. Just don’t be so selfish that you end up hurting someone.” Naruto heard footsteps, and then two doors shut. He went over to his window, and sat on the end of his bed, staring out at the sky. Kiba always acted protective of him around occult stuff. Tsunade was the same. He’d asked her once when she was drunk, but even then she’d given some silly excuse, “clairvoyants just make me twitchy” or something. Lying down on his back he closed his eyes. If it weren’t for how cold he was, Sasuke would be hot. Naruto cringed at his unintentional pun, and kicked off his clothes, and crawling under the duvet. Tomorrow’s problems were for tomorrow Naruto.


	2. Chapter 2

 Naruto woke up to singing. He rolled out of bed, confused, and hit the floor with a thud.

 “Ow…” he grumbled, wondering why Tsunade hadn’t yelled at him yet. And why she was singing. He stumbled out into the corridor yelling “WHY ARE YOU SINGING SO EARLY?” Sakura, who was standing in the hallway, yelped, and froze, wide eyed at Naruto. Ino opened her door, and began to snigger. “What are you guys doing a-aha-aaaahi’m not at my house…”

 “You’re also in your underwear.” Ino snorted. Sakura seemed to be trying very hard to keep looking at his face, and not down, though she was beginning to lose the battle. Sasuke opened his door, stared for a moment at Naruto, then slammed his door shut, but not before Naruto saw him turn bright red. Within seconds Hinata’s door opened, and she had a similar reaction.

 “Why are you still standing there?” Sakura squeaked.

 “Idiot, put some clothes on.” Kiba grumbled, coming out of his room and shoving Naruto back into his, pushing the door shut. “…gonna regret living with him…” Naruto heard him mumble on his way into the kitchen. Naruto sat down, shaking his head. Uni, yes, that was where he was! And today was the market! He quickly struggled into some clothes, and headed to the kitchen.

 “Morning!” He said cheerfully, Kiba placed a cup of tea on the counter in front of him, and Sakura and Ino waved from the table. “Aaaah” He stretched, “It’s such a nice morning.”

 “Yeah, great view.” Kiba said deadpan, and Ino snorted, whilst Sakura appeared to choke on her breakfast. Naruto gave Kiba a playful kick.

 “So, market today?” Naruto said, changing the topic.

 “Yeah, I was thinking we could make our own Indian curry feast.” Sakura said, pouring herself some juice. “We can make several dishes so that everyone has something they like, and you can mix together different things. Plus I want to see if they have curry leaves, I’ve never put them in a curry before.”

 “They add a really nice flavour, kind of smoky, but also slightly citrus-like.” Ino added. She had a pad and pen on the table, and was writing up ingredients they needed to buy.

 “I’d love to add some lime to one of them.” Naruto said cheerfully, joining the table, followed by Kiba.

 “I can make a nice pomegranate chicken dish.” Said Sasuke from the hallway. Naruto hadn’t even heard him come out. Well, out of his room. “I can write down what we’ll need for it. But why are we making Indian?”

 “It’s traditional.” Ino supplied. “Whenever you move in somewhere, you have take away as your first meal. Yesterday didn’t count because we were still all just new to all this, and we had pancakes. Except you, grumpy, and then popcorn and snacks, but this will be our first PROPER meal. That isn’t breakfast.”

 “Your argument is compelling.” Sasuke responded, dryly. Just then Hinata emerged from her room, and shuffled into the kitchen.

 “And that makes six!” Sakura said, grinning and motioning for Hinata to some and sit down. “Full house!”

 “In cards six doesn’t make a full house.” Sasuke said, sitting down next to Hinata.

 “It can, just depends what you’re playing.” Kiba grumbled.

 “He’s not a morning person.” Naruto commented, as Kiba glared across the table at Sasuke.

 “Or an evening person.” Sasuke muttered, low enough that Kiba, who was stuffing his face with cornflakes, didn’t hear. Naruto wondered what he meant for a minute, and then remembered the hushed conversation outside his door. Kiba would tell him if he thought it was important, unless is was related to Sasuke’s family being seers. In which case, he just had to get some time alone with the raven. The market was a perfect location for such a plan. Soon they were all out on campus, looking for where the market would be. Sakura and Ino busied themselves with the map, and Hinata took the opportunity to walk beside Kiba and Naruto, with Sasuke trailing reluctantly behind and Akamaru leading them blindly.

 “So…um…Naruto…what made you want to study psychology?” She asked tentatively.

 “A few things. I thought it would be cool to learn about how the brain works, see all the neuro-pathways and what they do. I also wanted to find out more about things like addiction, because I’d like to someday end up working with people with addictions to help them over-come them. But there’s also a bigger reason. I have a large gap in my memory as a child. Things from before I was seven are---patchy, like things just aren’t there. Then there’s a huge gap around the time my parents died. I kind of want to work out what happened to my memory.” He shrugged, noticing Kiba glancing behind them, but Sasuke seemed not to be listening.

 “Oh no! I don’t remember a lot of my childhood, I just thought that was normal…” Hinata said, sounding worried.

 “Oh, it is, most people have very few clear memories of their childhood, your mind just picks the ones you think are important or the ones you go over repeatedly. Mine is more…there are bits where I remember something important, but I’m aware something’s missing, like a photograph with a hole in it.”

 “Who knows,” Kiba grinned, “Maybe the weeping angels stole your memory!”

 “Kiba don’t!” Naruto whined, he hated the weeping angels so badly.

 “Oh god, I remember that episode.” Hinata shuddered, and they began talking about their favourite doctor who monsters. Soon however, Sakura and Ino were bickering about directions. They all grouped up by one of the buildings, trying to work out which way to go.

 “Maybe that building is the arts building?” Naruto suggested, pointing at a long flat building.

 “Baka, that’s the maths labs.” Sasuke said grumpily. “Which I think means we’re by the chemistry building…”

 “Um…I’m pretty sure that’s not where I’m having my labs…” Hinata said, staring up at the building.

 “Hi there!” Said a cheerful voice, and they turned to see a tall girl in the Union T-shirt smiling at them. She had long dark hair and an open face. “You guys seem lost.”

 “We are.” Kiba said, grinning bashfully. “None of us can work out which building is which.”

 “If you go closer, each entrance has the name of the building on a plaque.” She said motioning to a shiny metal plate with the words “Physics labs” written on it. “It’s confusing, you’ll find your way eventually. Also, we have maps dotted around the campus, just look for the red flags, they’ve been tied to them during the introduction period so that people can find them.” The team looked mostly appeased, but she grinned at them, “I’m going to the market if that’s where you’re headed?” They all nodded vigorously, and she walked them through the maze of buildings and open spaces. “I’m Kin,” she said as they walked, “I’m one of the student rep’s for physics and maths. Are any of you doing that?” They all shook their heads, but Sasuke said “I’m doing psychology, so I’m doing stats.”

 “Oh! Cool, I might see you in the maths labs then.”

 “Wait…psychology means having to do maths again?” Naruto said, exasperated, before moaning “but I’m rubbish at maths…”

 Kin laughed. “It’s not so bad, in psychology you mostly do it in the labs, and there’s mat-lab and SPSS which just do the working out for you, though it is a battle to get them to do what you want…but you’ll be guided through that.” Kin chatted with the group about what they were doing, pointing out buildings as they went past them, and eventually coming to the square at the centre of campus. It was covered in tents and stalls, and full of life. “I’ll leave you guys here, I have to go to the student rep table. Have fun!” With that, she disappeared into the crowd.

 “Okay!” Sakura said cheerfully, we have a list of ingredients we need, but let’s also browse the other stuff!” Sakura passed small lists to each person, “In case we get separated, shall we agree to meet back here in an hour? It’s 10.35, so…around 11.30?” They all agreed, apart from Naruto, who pointed out that he didn’t have a watch.

 “I’ll keep an eye on you.” Kiba grinned, and they all dived into the fray.

 Naruto couldn’t help gaping at all the things for sale. There were strange clothes that would have looked more suited to a Victorian sci-fi, dresses that were long and flowed out like silk in the wind, belts with pouches attached, fresh fruit and veg, jewellery, hot food, cakes, books, and posters. He darted into a poster stall, browsing happily through them, Kiba following behind him, and examining a wolf poster. “We could use this in our presentation.” He said, thoughtfully.

 “You don’t have to justify buying it to me.” Naruto chided, and Kiba grinned, taking the poster over to the stall holder to ask how much it was, and whether they had any more. Naruto found himself absorbed in the posters, drooling over one of Fairytail; it wasn’t in the same style as the anime, it was softer, with bigger and more detailed eyes.

 “Nice find.” Sasuke said from behind Naruto. He already had a small bag hanging round his arm, his hands in his pockets. “I don’t think I’ve seen that style before.”

 “You like fairytail?” Naruto said, shocked.

 “It’s a good anime, what’s not to like?”

 “I just…kind of see you as a rock that doesn’t like anything.”

 Sasuke snorted, and a smile tugged at his mouth.

 “OH MY GOD YOU KNOW HOW TO SMILE!” Naruto yelled, and Sasuke scowled.

 “Why are you shouting Naruto?” Kiba said, coming over with two rolled up posters in a bag.

 “Sasuke SMILED!” Naruto said, sounding shocked.

 “I showed an emotion, big deal.” Sasuke grumbled, stomping away.

 “I think I offended him. Gimme a sec.” Naruto said, taking the fairytail poster, and a second he’d been eyeing up, one with a Shiba Inu on it, over to the stallholder, and quickly paying for them. He was just about to rush after Sasuke when Kiba grabbed his arm.

 “Hey, don’t, just let him be.”

 “No…I upset him, besides…I want to give him this. I…want to be his friend.”

 “Naruto, I have no problem with you making friends, but…do you have to make friends with him?”

 “What’s the matter? You really don’t like him. Why?”

 “I…have my reasons. I just think you’re going to get hurt.” Naruto raqised an eyebrow, and his friend sighed. “Look, fine, I’m not going to stop you, just…be careful of…just be careful.” Kiba looked so concerned, so Naruto turned around and gave him a hug.

 “I know that. And I know that if something happens, you’ll be there. It’s fine.” He traipsed out into the crowd, looking for Sasuke, finding him by a herb stall.

 “Hey. Ooh, are those curry leaves?” He said, leaning over the stall beside Sasuke.

 “No, they’re bay leaves…I think…I’m waiting for the stall holder to be free…” He pointed at a sign that said ‘aromatic leaves’. He picked up some ginger, and examined it as they waited.

 “Sooo…what do you like?”  Naruto piped up, and Sasuke froze, going slightly pink. But Naruto didn’t see as his blush was hidden by his hair. “I really like coriander. There’s this lovely dish which has a sauce entirely made up of herbs, there’s so much coriander and it’s amazing.”

 Realising Naruto’s meaning, Sasuke replied in a calm tone “I like dished that combine the savouriness of meat and spices with the sweetness of fruit. Oranges, limes, pomegrantie…that sort of thing in eastern cooking, but in western cooking, things like pork and apple.”

 “That sounds really tasty…” Naruto said, his stomach growling.

 “…seriously, we only just had breakfast.” Sasuke smirked. “How are you hungry already.” His eyes met Naruto’s, and although he was mocking him, there was friendliness in his gaze. “I’ll have to cook apple and pork stew for you some time.”

 “Promise?”

 “Promises are childish.”

 Naruto pouted, tilting his head, and his eyes becoming big and shining full of hope. Sasuke seemed to be fighting something inside, and a blush crept into his cheeks.

 “…fine…” He muttered, and Naruto beamed.

 “Oh, and I got something for you. As an apology.” He handed Sasuke the poster, and watched him unroll it. His face was unreadable, but when he spoke, it was quiet, and sombre.

 “I…why are you sorry? You’ve done nothing wrong.”

 “Kiba was an arse to you. And I want to be friends. You seemed to like it so…”

 “…thank you…” The words were so full of gratitude, and honour, that Naruto felt himself going red. He hadn’t thought he’d done something that amazing.

 “It’s no big deal.” He noticed the stall holder was free. “Oh, hey, excuse me?”

 

 The group spread through the market, Naruto and Sasuke walking together, Sasuke slowly opening up to this cheerful enthusiastic, bright personality. Trying to stop the pull to want to be friends with him was like trying to control the weather. Impossible. Around 11.30, they headed back to the meeting point. Naruto and Sasuke had got a pastry each, and were munching on them when Kiba and Akamaru appeared, the boy carrying armfuls of things.

 “I found a book stall!” he grinned, showing off his collections. He’d also bought some books on wolf mythology and history. “I need the history one anyway, for my studies, but I thought we could use the mythos in our presentation.” They all sat and talked for a while, Kiba noticeably less hostile to Sasuke, but Sasuke still being uninterested and cold to the world.

 “Oh hey!” Ino said as she, Sakura, and Hinata finally appeared. “Hinata got lost, so we had to go back and complete her list.” Naruto felt a pang of guilt for leaving the girl behind, but she smiled at him when he met her eyes.

 “It’s fine,” She said, answering the unspoken feelings, “I got distracted by the poster stall. There were so many lovely things.”

 They pottered about at the edges of the market, then all went back to their flat. Sitting on the floor, Kiba began to pull out and show off his purchases one by one, Hinata joining him. Soon they were all there, admiring each other’s items, and collecting the food ingredients together. All in all they hadn’t had to spend much on the food because the market did cheap fresh vegetables and herbs. Ino grinned as they all finished, and pulled out something from her bag.

 “What settling in dinner would be complete without booze!” She placed three bottles, one of vodka, one of coke, and one alcopop. “We can make our own drinks, and after dinner, we can do a drinking game!”

 The group settled down and started watching things on TV, now and then writing notes for their project, agreeing to talk tomorrow morning about how to do the presentation, and to give the others their ideas. Naruto disappeared into his room to check his uni account. He battled the login process for fifteen minutes, yelling in frustration. After a few moments, he heard someone knock on his door.

 “Um…Naruto…are you okay?” Came Hinata’s voice.

 “I’m fine, just…logging in is difficult.

 “Um…would you like some help?”

 “Sure! The door’s unlocked.”

 Hinata crept in, and sat down next to Naruto, and began working through all the questions and requirements. “This…is stupid…” she commented, after having to input Naruto’s login five times in a row on different pages. Naruto laughed. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…I just…if you’re programming a login, you should make it remember the details from one page to the next.”

 “You sure know your way around a computer.”

 “It’s not that hard…I mean, um, I’m sorry, I’m not saying you’re stupid, sorry...”

 “It’s fine,” Naruto grinned, “I’m useless with tech.

 “Honestly, it’s probably because I did computer science at A-level.”

 “Or because technology is rebelling against us and sees me as the biggest threat because I’m just that awesome.” Hinata giggled, and blushed.

 “You’re really nice Naruto.” She smiled.

 “Back atcha.” Naruto grinned. They finished the login, and Naruto checked his account, finally, but his timetable hadn’t been put up yet. “ah man…well, back to the living room.” He led Hinata back, but she paused at one of his pictures, it was an albino Alsatian, he’d coloured the eye’s red, and had smoky wisps coming out of them, giving it an ethereal feel.

 “This is lovely…” She said in admiration.

 “Oh, thanks, it’s one I did of a friends dog.”

 “You did this?” She said in awe.

 “Yeah, it’s not my best, but I like it.” Hinata looked at him in shock, people always did that when he said his art wasn’t that good. But he’d seen better, he knew his art was good, but it honestly wasn’t the best. They went into the living room where Sakura was cursing at her laptop. Sasuke glanced up at them, gave Hinata a cold glare, then looked away.

 “It won’t let me get onto the server.”

 “Yeah. Mine did that.” Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head. “But Hinata’s really good with tech.”   
 “I bet that’s not all she’s good at.” Ino grinned.

 “This is just like being back at school.” Kiba laughed, and Naruto stuck his tongue out at Ino. “I hate to be the one to tell you this, Ino, but Naruto doesn’t swing that way.”

 “What? Ah man! Wait, but why didn’t you say so yesterday?” Ino looked suspiciously at Naruto.

 “I kind of forgot. Kiba talked so much about dogs that that was all I could think of.”

 “You heard it, ladies, gentlemen, or however you identify, Naruto forgot he was gay.”

 “I didn’t forget!” Naruto protested, “I just…forgot it was important.

 “It’s fine Naruto.” Sakura said, “It doesn’t have to define you.”

 “That’s right, it’s my awesomeness that defines me!” He posed like a superhero, then yelled “I CAN FLY!” And leapt at the sofa, where Kiba was sitting, to the cries of “nnononoNONOO” as he landed on the other boy. Everyone laughed, even Sasuke sniggered, and Akamaru decided this was the best game, launching himself onto the boys, who were battling to be able to sit up. The group began setting up each others laptops, all of them trying to suggest things, which definitely slowed things down, but for Naruto, this was perfect. He brought his laptop out into the main room, and sat happily reading through articles, and enjoying the comfortable level of chatting and busyness. It was…really nice. Ever since he had been a child, the other kids had avoided him. For the longest time, it had always been just him, Kiba, and Tsunade. He made friends easily, he had had many over the years, but after a while something would always happen, either they’d start avoiding him, or someone would have told them that Naruto was cursed, or they’d get nosey, have an argument with Kiba, and suddenly not hang around anymore. Naruto never blamed Kiba, his best friend had dealt with some serious issues throughout his life. Naruto remembered one time Kiba hadn’t come to school, but then Akamaru turned up outside the school gates, so Naruto snuck out to the agitated dog during break, and ran after him, following him to an abandoned factory on the edge of town. They’d rushed up the stairs, and Naruto had found Kiba pacing along the edge of the room, by a big, disintegrating hole in the wall. Kiba had been sobbing, and when he’d seen Naruto had yelled “No, no don’t come near me, I’m ruining your life.”

 “Kiba, what’s going on?” Naruto had said, slowly stepping forwards.

 “I…I can’t do this…every time you make a friend…it’s all my fault…I…I was just trying to protect you, to do what Tsunade said…but I’m thirteen, THIRTEEN FUCKING YEARS OLD! I don’t know what I’m doing.” He looked at Naruto, pleadingly, “I can’t do this…”

 “You don’t have to. It’s not your job to protect me.” Naruto stepped closer again, closing the distance between them one inch at a time.

 “But…but I can’t explain, I can’t ever tell you why…I’m no good, I can’t even protect my best friend without him losing everyone…” He went to the edge of the drop, and Naruto’s hear missed a beat. “As long as I’m around, you’ll have no one…”

 “I’ll have you…” Naruto said, a lump in his throat. “And I’d rather have you and no one else, than all the friends in the world, but no Kiba…”

 The boy turned, seeing the tears falling from Naruto’s eyes, and stepped back towards him, slowly, until he fell into Naruto’s arms. That had scared Naruto, and was why he never asked Kiba what was going on. 

 Something far beyond a possessive teenager was going on, but Naruto didn’t care, Kiba was his world, and enough people turned away from him because of rumours that he didn’t mind Kiba’s protective nature.

 Naruto smiled, looking up at the university room, he hadn’t thought about that memory for a while, but looking at Kiba now, he seemed like he had never been that terrified, suicidal young boy. Naruto hoped these friends would stay. They came from somewhere far away, they wouldn’t know the rumours. And Kiba seemed to actually like them. Apart from Sasuke. But this, this felt like home.

 “Alright guys, let’s start dinner!” Sakura said, clapping her hands. They all set to work, some shopping and peeling, some de-fatting the meat, Sakura and Sasuke leading the cooking, frying up some spices. Soon the kitchen smelt wonderful, the smell saturating the room. An hour or so later, and the table was covered with dishes. A large bowl of rice, some noodles, a lime, coriander and red kidney bean dish, a masala, a chicken and pomegranate dish, a vegetable curry, it all smelt amazing, and they dug in, giving themselves small portions of each. They chatter about the day, about what performances they would go and see tomorrow, and about their presentation. Outside it grew dark, and once they’d cleared up their mess and boxed up their food, Ino set up a circle of cards, and placed a glass in the middle.

 “Does everyone know how to play ring of fire?” She asked, and they all nodded apart from Naruto and Hinata, so Ino explained to them.

 “Ace is waterfall, everyone drinks until the person who picked the card stops. 2 is you, which means you choose someone to drink, 3, me, you drink, 4, all girls drink, 5, whenever the person who picked this card puts their thumb up, everyone else has to copy it, last person to do so loses and has to drink. You stop being thumb-master when someone else draws a five. 6, pricks, guys drink, 7, heaven, is a lot like 5, everyone points to the sky, last person to do so drinks. Difference is, this is only once, and if the person who picks the card is slow, it can be them. 8, mate, you pick someone to drink with you every time you drink, 9, rhyme, is you pick a word, and going in a circle everyone has to rhyme with that word. If someone messes up, they drink. 10 is down it, you down your drink, jack means you get to make a rule, queen is truth or dare, and king is where you pour some of your drink into the cup in the middle, fourth king has to drink the dirty pint. Everyone clear?”

 “You’ll have to remind me, but sure, lets go!” Naruto grinned.

 They all settled, and began taking turns. Soon there were some very stupid rules in place, everyone has to drink from the opposite side of the cup, like when you have hiccoughs, and the boys all have to drink when one of them drinks. Needless to say, the boys were getting drunk faster than the girls. A seven appeared, drawn by Naruto, and Sasuke pointed at him saying “hah. Seevn.”

 “Um…” Sakura giggled, “You’re meant to point up. Seven for heaven.”

 “Oh…bollocks.” Sasuke said, drinking as Naruto laughed.

 “Baka, that means you have to drink too.” Sasuke said, smirking.

 “Fuck.” Naruto said, taking a swig of his drink.

 “Naruto…I think I’m…” Kiba flumped onto Naruto’s lap.

 “I think you’ve had ‘nuff to drink, dog-boy.” Naruto said, heaving his friend up.

 “Not dog-boy…wolf…am a wolf.” He howled, then hiccoughed, then just let Naruto drag him to his room.

 “Sweet dreams dog-boy.” Naruto said, shutting his door. “Okay, whose turn does it make it now?” Naruto slurred, sitting back down. Hinata raised her hand, and they carried on, Ino picking a Queen, and daring Sakura to kiss her, making the pink haired girl flustered, but doing it. Soon after that, both Sakura and Ino disappeared into Ino’s room. Hinata yawned, and said she was going to bed. Sasuke and Naruto stared at each other when Hinata’s door clicked shut, and Naruto was just about to suggest heading to bed as well, Sasuke picked up a card, showing it to Naruto. It was another Queen.

 “Truth or dare?” He had a strange expression on his face. Naruto kind of wanted dare, because he thought Sasuke would dare him to kiss him, and that appealed to him. But he might suggest something else, and Naruto was tired.

 “Truth.”

 Sasuke stared at him, seeming to consider something, before speaking, carefully choosing his words.

 “What do you…know…about protective spirits, specifically foxes ones?”

 “…well that was a waste of a question. I know pretty much nothing about them. I mean, I know what we’re taught in school, some spirits manifest as animals, and they will gain the features of that animal, like dog spirits would be loyal, rabbit spirits anxious, and…I guess fox spirits would be cunning? Some will protect, some will harm, watch out for moving in somewhere full of spirits, because multiple spirits can cause problems with the house…but that’s junior school stuff.” He shrugged at Sasuke, who seemed to be trying to work out if Naruto was telling the truth, before sighing, and looking away.  “Why do you ask, anyway?”

 Sasuke glanced back at Naruto, weighing up something in his mind.

 “The lines you have on your cheeks? They’re something people often get when they’ve been marked by a spirit. Good or bad. The fact that you can’t remember it…and that one of my family saw a fox…it means something.”

 “You think about things too much.” Naruto smiled, and got up, ruffling Sasuke’s head. “Get some sleep.”

 “Wait…” Sasuke stood up, and stared at Naruto, his face blank, but clearly trying to work through something. “…would you like to go to something at the union building tomorrow?”

 “Of course! That’s what we’re all going to be doing. Teme, your memory is rubbish when you’re drunk.”

 “You really are a baka.” Sasuke said, going to his door.   
 “Hey!” Naruto said, ready to retaliate, but then Sasuke’s door was shut. He shrugged, and went back into his room. Lying down on his bed, he stared up at the ceiling. He felt like something was missing again, like all those memories where someone should have been there, but he couldn’t remember…thinking about it made his head hurt, so he gave up, got undressed, and went to sleep.

 

 “ _ Naru Naru! Come here! I have something to show you!” called a voice, a familiar, warm voice. He was playing in the garden, it was light, and welcoming. Flowers, sunlight, a brilliant glowing haze. Aunt Tsunade was drinking something with a woman Naruto felt like he knew. She smiled at him and said “Go ahead pet, go play with him.” So he ran towards the voice. He rounded a corner behind the garden shed, and suddenly saw a pile of bodies, the dream turning grey and sharp, the tang of blood in the air. _

_  “I…I’m sorry…” Said the voice, “I just wanted…to play with you…” Naruto slowly turned to look at the speaker, and a chill went down his spine. But suddenly a hand from one of the bodies gripped his ankle, and he screamed, sobbing, begging the voice to help him, then a dark shadow appeared, stumbling blindly through the corpses, calling out his name, coming closer and closer… _

_  A warmth filled him, and the scene slowly vanished, something was curled around him, holding him, and whispering “not yet Naru Naru.” _

 Naruto’s eyes snapped open, hearing a thud. He tried to keep hold of the dream, but it was sliding away, until all he remembered was seeing his mother and Tsunade, and a hand gripping his ankle. Rolling over, he went back to sleep.


	3. chapter 3

 There was a loud banging noise, and Naruto heard Kiba yelling his name.

 “WHAT?” He yelled, burying himself deeper in the duvet.

 “IT’S ELEVEN O’CLOCK, COME ON, YOU NEED TO WAKE UP. SHOWS START AT ONE!” Naruto groaned, and rolled over. “I’LL EAT YOUR SERVING OF TOAST.” After some silence, Kiba decided it clearly wasn’t a big enough threat, so called “HEY, SUKURA, CAN I FINISH THE MAPLE SYRUP?”

 “OKAY OKAY, I’M GETTING UP!” Naruto yelled, sitting up and rubbing his head.

 “Prove it.” Kiba said from the other side of the door. Naruto got up and opened the door.

 “Up. See? Up.”

 Kiba looked him in the eye, glanced down, then back up again, and smirked.

 “Yes, up, I can see.”

 Naruto glared at him in confusion, then looked down. It was this moment that Ino came out of her room, and she burst into hysterics as Naruto blushed and slammed his door.

 “I can’t believe I’m living with him!” she cackled from outside, and Naruto grumbled, trying to get rid of his morning wood. Of course he would have morning wood. Just perfect.

 Eventually, he was ready to go out, wearing an orange T-shirt and combats. The group were all in the kitchen, apart from Sasuke.

 “Where’s grumpy?” Kiba asked, helping himself to bread for toast.

 “I dunno.” Ino said, “Should someone wake him up?”

 Hinata went over to his door, and knocked tentatively on it, When she got no reply, Kiba went over and hammered loudly on it.

 “OY, GRUMPY, WAKE UP!” There was a brief silence, then a thud as something apparently hit the other side of the door.

 “Oh my gosh are you okay?” Hinata panicked.

 “He’s fine, it was probably a shoe or something.”

 “It was a book.” Came the muffled reply.

 “A book? You heathen! Books are precious! You don’t just throw them!” The brunette cried, and Naruto dragged Kiba back to the table before he gave Sasuke’s door a lecture, Hinata trotting behind them. Sasuke did eventually appear, sporting a bruise on his temple.

 “What happened to you?” Ino asked, staring at the bruise.

 “I fell out of bed. It hurt.” Sasuke replied, curtly. Sakura fussed over him, but he shooed her away. They all looked at the leaflet in their welcome packs that had the events on. None of them fancied the spoken word reading, but they all thought the comedy sketch could be good, apart from Sasuke, who didn’t seem interested in any of it. He slathered marmite on his toast, and ripped it apart as if it had offended him. Naruto saw this, and caught an icy glare.

 “O…kay…how about the live band?”

 “I’ll pass, it sounds too busy…” Hinata said quietly.

 “And it’ll be too loud for Akamaru, I’ll come back with Hinata.”

 “I’ll go to the band.” Sasuke said, breaking his silence. Kiba looked suspiciously at him, but shrugged. “I’ll meet you guys there.”

 The rest of them went and got ready, and trotted out to the union building. The advantage of getting lost last time meant that this time they had more of an idea where they were going. The building was big, with a gentle slope leading to the main doors. Just inside the entrance were some tables set up. And the group heard a cheerful yell of “Room twenty five! Ah!” And Temari beamed over at them from a table selling tea and cake.

 “Oh my god you have tea?” Naruto said, and he and Sakura rushed over.

 “Nice to see you guys too!” Temari said, sticking out her tongue and winking at Hinata who had gone red.

 “So how come you’re behind the stall?” Kiba asked, as Akamaru went under the table to say hello to her.

 “I told you, I’m a student rep, that means I have to help out with union things alongside working with your floor. Aah it’s so much work.” She raised a hand dramatically to her forehead. “Though I get a nice cushy flat all to myself, which is a big bonus.” She grinned as Naruto and Sakura picked out some cakes and tea. The group then migrated into the main hall, waving goodbye to Temari. There were several doors, with people scattered around the rest of the room, and a big notice board with the timings of each event. They ended up splitting up for some of the events so that Naruto could see the comedy sketch whilst Sakura watched Drunken Dramatics. Naruto also got to see an acrobatics act, because of the overlap, but then they all ended up watching the magic show. It was terrible, truly awful, it wasn’t mystifying, or unbelievable, but it was utterly hilarious. The magician made fun of his mistakes, making them part of the show, messing up more and more, and then suddenly pulling off a really complicated trick, and looking theatrically shocked, like when he made a table disappear, and spent the next five minutes looking for it, and accusing the audience of stealing it. The events went on all afternoon, and as dusk fell, the rooms were joined, and the stage for the band started getting set up. Hinata, Kiba and Akamaru left, waving goodbye, the group loitered in the hall waiting for Sasuke until music started to play.

 “I think we should go in.” Ino said, tugging Sakura’s arm.

 “But what about Sasuke, there’s no way we’ll find him again…” Sakura said holding back.

 “I’ll wait for him.” Naruto volunteered, “I’m sure I can find you guys, just check by the drinks regularly.” Sakura reluctantly agreed, and the two girls disappeared into the noisy room. Naruto began chatting with the people at the stalls, a lot of whom were packing up now that the main events were over. He was just talking to Temari when he saw her tilt her head around him and whistle. He turned to see Sasuke, wearing a pair of tight black trousers that met purple spats halfway down his calves, a neat purple waistcoat covering a shirt which had a generous open collar, and fluffy sleeves. A small deep purple, almost black, top hat was slanted off his head. Naruto stared, open mouthed, feeling rather out-done in his orange T-shirt and black cargo pants. Sasuke smirked, walking over to him, and reached out to shut Naruto’s open mouth.

 “Stop staring, I might get the wrong idea.” He winked at Naruto, who was not only shocked by his appearance, but also by the complete change of character. “Come on, we’re missing the music.” He took Naruto’s arm and led him into the main room, and placed his other arm around Naruto’s waist. The music was slow, and so was their dance, though Sasuke seemed to be doing something complicated with his feet, and Naruto, who realised now that he was a good head shorter than Sasuke, was being twisted and turned everywhere in a chaotic but gentle dance. The world around him disappeared, and he felt both like everyone was watching, and that no one else was there, as they twirled and slid as if on ice. Vision spinning, the only thing constant was Sasuke, one eye gleaming with mischief, the other covered by his top hat, one hand effortlessly leading the blonde, the other pressed into the small of his back, almost carrying him. The song ended, and Naruto stepped back, stammering about needing a drink, but not letting go of Sasuke’s hand. He blushed furiously, and turned, leading the raven over to the refreshments table. They got there just as a new song started, and Naruto downed a cup of punch. Sasuke slipped out of Naruto’s grip to get himself a cup. Sakura’s voice squealed over to them, and she began gushing at Sasuke, and Naruto walked over to where Ino was.

 “He scrubs up well doesn’t he.” Ino said, a wry smile crossing her face as Naruto choked on his drink slightly.

 “I can’t fucking dance, that was terrifying.” He gasped.

 “Looked like you were enjoying yourself though.” She grinned.

 “You saw?”

 “Dude, literally everyone saw.” Naruto groaned, and was about to try and drown himself in his cup when a group of boys came over.

 “Hey, fuck head.” One yelled, and Naruto looked blank for a moment, then paled. The leader was someone he’d gone to junior school with, and he recognised some of the others as ones who had joined in bullying him both in and out of school. “Yeah, looks like faggot has a boyfriend.”

 “Who the fuck do you think you are?” Ino said, rounding on them.

 “Careful babe,” Said the leader, Kankuro, a tall guy with tattoo’s across his face, “That guy behind you? He’s bad news. People don’t stay around him long.”

 “Maybe people like you.” She spat.

 “Think about it, how well do you really know him?” He asked, and smirked as a flicker of doubt crossed her face.

 “What do you mean?” She asked, cautiously.

 “What I mean,” He sneered, “is that no one knows the truth, whether he’s a nut job who murders people, or if he’s cursed, and all who come close to him get cursed as well, either way, people close to him get hurt. Have you asked him how his parents died?” Naruto tried to say something, but couldn’t…without Kiba, he felt like a small child, not knowing what to do. Ino stepped closer to the bully though, her face grim.

 “Or maybe that’s just bullshit freaks like you make up because you don’t like Naruto having someone you want. You called him a faggot, maybe, just maybe, there’s a bit of displacement there?” The guy snarled and grabbed Ino, hitting her across the face, knocking her down. Sakura screamed, and tried to run over to her, but Sasuke held her back, as Naruto helped Ino up, and pushed her behind him.

 “Don’t say another word,” He hissed, “Thank you, I know what you’re trying to do, but this isn’t your fight.”

 “It isn’t yours either.” She whispered back. Suddenly there was a smash as Kankuro broke a bottle, and ran at Naruto, who backed away, but was slowed down by Ino, the bottled gashing across his chest. Naruto cried out in pain, but suddenly a blur crossed his vision, and Sasuke was just there, standing in front of him, Kankuro on the floor. He got up, and made to attack, but Sasuke seemed to dance around him, and again he was on the floor. Others dived into the fray, and Sasuke whipped between them, knocking them to the floor or sending them flying. Occasionally blood would spray as someone cut him, but he seemed to not even feel it, flying between each attacker. Some turned their attention on Naruto and Ino, but Sakura grabbed a chair and stood in front of them yelling “FUCKING BRING IT!” Just as things were getting out of hand, the rest of the room interfered, random strangers helping to pin down the bullies, a few first aiders running over to Naruto and Ino, one even trying to fuss Sasuke, who was holding Kankuro down all by himself. Several bigger men took over from him, and dragged the bully outside as campus security arrived. The first aiders treated Sasuke’s wounds, and said that Naruto would need stitches. They bandaged the patients up, and the four friends were escorted to the on campus Care centre, alongside some others.

 “I’m sorry…” Naruto said quietly as they sat in the waiting room whilst the out of hours doctor was called.

 “Yeah…” Sasuke sighed, leaning back, “It was a really nice waistcoat.”

 “That’s not what I mean.”

 “We know what you mean.” Ino said, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. “But you don’t have to, honestly, we were all in that fight because we chose to be. You didn’t ask any of us to.” She smiled, and Naruto began to cry. “Um…please don’t cry…” Ino said, awkwardly, trying to comfort him.

 “Baka.” Sasuke said, smiling. “You’ve made some best friends on your third day, why are you crying?” That just made him cry harder, Sakura and Ino perching in front of him trying to soothe him. Suddenly the doors to the health centre burst open with a panicked looking Kiba and a scared Hinata standing there looking around until they saw the group. Kiba dived at Naruto, checking his injuries, all bandaged up, hugging him, and then holding him at arms length.

 “Who?”

 “They got arrested.” Ino supplied.

 “Kankuro.” Naruto admitted, biting his lip.

 “But it’s fine, the police have him.” Ino said from beside them.

 “I’ll fucking kill him.”

 “Arrested.”

 “I will hunt him down…”

 “In jail.”

 “And fucking murder him.”

 “From inside jail.”

 “I don’t care where he is…”

 “I am just talking to myself here.” Ino leant back, and slid an arm around Sakura as Kiba continued to threaten him.

 “Kiba…” Naruto interjected, and his friend looked at him, “Sasuke…was amazing…he saved me…he took down Kankuro and most of the others…”

 “How?” Kiba asked, staring blankly at Sasuke, who shrugged.

 “I know some martial arts.” Kiba seemed to consider something, then smiled at Sasuke.

 “You’re pretty cool, you know?” Sasuke rolled his eyes at Kiba’s sudden change of emotion.

 “Where’s Akamaru?” Naruto asked, looking around.

 “I didn’t bring him because I reckoned he would be safer out of a fight when I saw sirens.” The group settled in a corner, and waited for the doctor, and eventually a very harassed looking person appeared, and began calling names. Naruto came away with four stitched in his chest, the rest of them had superficial injuries, apart from Ino, who was told she needed to have an x-ray to make sure her jaw hadn’t been broken. Eventually they all went home, Kiba worrying over Naruto as he went to his room.

 “And if you need ANYTHING in the night…” Kiba was saying as Naruto shut the door saying

 “Kiba…I’m fine…I’m tired…it’s fine…please…night…” He latched the door, and leant against it, breathing in the familiar scent of his new bedroom. From outside he heard Sasuke’s voice saying “So you’re fine with me now?” and Kiba’s response of “Dude, you beat up Naruto’s bullies. Yes I’m fine with you.” There was a pause, and Naruto heard a door open.

 “Hey…” Came Kiba’s voice, “aren’t you going to ask about why they beat him up?”

 “They said something about a curse.” There was silence again.

 “And you’re not going to ask about it? I thought that’s what you psychic people did.”

 “I’m not a psychic, I’m a seer. Though I can do a nifty séance. But no, I’m not. If he wants’ to tell me, I’ll let him. Otherwise I’m going to mind my own business.” There was a pause, and then he continued. “I’m going to find out the cause behind it, it’s kind of my job, spirits, but Naruto doesn’t know anything about it. So I’m not going to push it.”

 “…okay. But you mess his head up and I will end you.” Kiba’s voice was usually laced with humour, but this was a threat, pure and poisonous. Naruto heard the doors shut, and crossed to his bed. It looked like things were in his hands. Something to do with spirits had followed him everywhere, and it had been nothing but a curse, there were missing memories, there were the strange deaths, his parents, Tsunade and Kiba’s protection of him, and Sasuke…who along with being damn hot, could find out about spirits. It was his turn to roll the dice. He wondered what he would do.

 

_  Fire was burning through the building, it was choking his lungs, something was plunging him underwater, but the fire was still there, he couldn’t breath, he tried to think, to move, but he couldn’t. His mind flitted back to moments ago where he’d been running through fields, playing with Kiba and Akamaru, they’d found an old house, and had started exploring. The house, compared to the birdsong and rustling outside, was dead silence. Then had come the roaring. And the eyes. Naruto jerked his eyes open, Kiba was in here, he had to get to them, but something was pinning him down. A figure appeared above him, pulling him out of the liquid fire, but he was still choking. He spat out fire, and gurgled the words ‘help…Kiba’, the figure seemed to slowly become familiar, then was gone. He was alone again, choking, the dream fading as he slipped into blackness… _

 “NARUTO DON’T YOU DARE DIE ON ME!” Came Kiba’s screaming. Naruto choked and coughed something up, rolling off the bed and into someone’s lap. Arms held him securely, and he looked up to see Sasuke, concern etched in his usually impassive face. There was blood on his pyjama top, and Kiba was bent down next to him.

 “What…happened…” Naruto gasped as Sakura brought him a glass of water.

 “You were choking…” Kiba said, looking scared. Naruto sat up and gratefully gulped the deliciously cold water.

 “How did you know?” Naruto said hoarsely.

 “I heard you.” Sasuke said, helping Naruto stay upright.

 “I thought I was dying…”

 “You almost did,” Ino said from the doorway, arm around Hinata who looked terrified. “Sasuke had to do CPR.” Naruto choked on the water, and Kiba panicked again.

 “I’m fine, I’m okay,” Naruto croaked.

 “I can go for a long time without sleep.” Sasuke said, looking at the others. “I’ll sit in Naruto’s bedroom and make sure he doesn’t choke again. Tomorrow we need to go back to the emergency room.”

 “Um…” Kiba looked awkwardly at them, but Naruto agreed. After getting a book, and ushering everyone else out, Sasuke set up night watch. Just as Naruto was going to sleep, he thought of something.

 “I think I saw you, in my dream. I told you to go and help Kiba…” He said, drifting to sleep. Sasuke suddenly smiled, and whispered, “I thought…hn. I’m…glad.”

 

 The next morning Naruto was being gently shaken awake.

 “C’mon baka, we need to get you to A&E.”

 “Shmore like bishkits…”

 “…what?”

 “What d’you mean what?”

 “You were talking about biscuit.”   
 “You’re a bishckit…” Naruto stretched and opened his eyes. “AAAH! WHYAREYOUINMYBEDROOM!” Naruto yelled. Sasuke glared at him.

 “Because you almost choked last night?”

 “…oh…”

 “Get dressed.” Sasuke went to the door to let himself out. “We’re taking you to the hospital.”

 A few minutes later and Sasuke, Naruto and Kiba were standing outside. They walked into the chilly 6am world, pulling their jackets up against the wind. Naruto began coughing, so they quickly went over to the Care centre. They didn’t have long to wait in A&E, most of last nights patients had been treated. Naruto asked for both of them to come in, but the doctor said it would be too crowded. Kiba agreed that Sasuke should go in, because he was the one who had seen what had happened. Plus Kiba couldn’t remember if Naruto had any long term illnesses, so was no use there. The doctor examined him, and said there was some fluid in his lungs. The doctor admitted him, and they all went upstairs, Naruto reluctantly in a wheelchair, as he was told he shouldn’t walk, and he was put on a bed in the ward. The three of them found things to do whilst they waited, but Naruto became more and more dizzy, not telling anyone until he flopped sideways onto Kiba.

 “Dude, don’t pass out on us!”

 “I’ll get a nurse.”

 “I’m fine…”

 Sasuke raised an eyebrow and left the ward. When he came back with a nurse, she ran some tests and told them that Naruto’s oxygen was low, so she gave him a tube that went into his nose directly giving him oxygen.

 “You could have told us you were getting dizzy.” Kiba grumped, and Naruto sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

 “He might not have realised what it is.” Naruto felt happy about this defence from Sasuke. “That or he’s just an idiot.” Well, it was nice whilst it lasted. It seemed to take ages, but eventually Naruto went into surgery. He was knocked out by the anaesthetic, and came to in the room he had been waiting in. He tried to sit up, but Sasuke pushed him gently back down.

 “You’ve just come out of surgery. Don’t try sitting up just yet.” Sasuke’s eyes were concerned, and Naruto felt his heart flutter.

 “WHERE’S THE IDIOT!” Came a familiar voice. Naruto looked up and saw Kiba trailing apologetically after Tsunade. “I can’t believe you’re in hospital ON YOUR FOURTH DAY AT UNIVERSITY!”

 “Hey old hag, I remember your stories, you drank so much you had to have your stomach pumped on your FIRST day!”

 “Yes, I was responsibly living up to the title of teenager. Being beaten up is not the same!” She berated him, but then calmed down, and placed a small bag in front of him. “This is your punishment. I’ve been told you can’t eat for two more hours, so you’ll have to sit in misery and stare at the fudge I bought you.”

 Naruto was about to protest when he realised what she’d said.

 “So…you didn’t make this…”

 “No, you think I just have fudge on standby in case you get hospitalised? Though maybe I should…”

 “I’ll live.” Naruto said, crossing his arms, but regretting it as his chest hurt. The four of them socialised whilst Naruto became less drugged off of his face, and then eventually he was released, munching on fudge as he was wheeled out of the hospital. It was 4pm by the time they were out, and Sasuke noticed Naruto looked depressed.

 “What’s wrong?” He asked once the nurse had taken the wheelchair away and Tsunade had said goodbye.

 “I missed the society fair.”

 “Not quite. It runs until six.” Sasuke said, and Naruto beamed.

 “OH MY GOD THEN LETS GO!”

 “Hey hey, no running mr ‘I only just got out of surgery’. It won’t take us two hours to get to the union building.” Once they got there it was quite quiet, and they wandered between tables, Naruto quickly finding the anime and manga soc, Kiba complaining that there wasn’t a dog club, but joining the board game society. Sasuke seemed interested in the self defence society, and the curry club, but blanked the psychics club.

 “I would have thought that was right up your street.” Kiba said, curiously, hands behind his head.

 “No. I come from a prestigious family, clubs make a mockery of our lives.”

 Naruto was about to respond when he saw a tea and cake society, and hurried over, immediately bumping into Sakura.

 “Naruto!” She cried, and hugged him gently. “You’re out already?”

 “I had surgery!” He said proudly.

 “He had a needle stuck in his lungs.” Kiba interjected, but Naruto waved a hand, dismissing the statement.

 “What are you doing still here?” He asked cheerfully.

 “I came to double check when their tea party is, it’s the first week of term, Wednesday. We HAVE to go!”

 “Definitely!” Naruto cheered, signing up.

 The group moved around, eventually heading back outside. The wind had picked up, and as they got outside, Kiba got a call.

 “What? Yeah? Sorry, it’s really windy here…is that better? Okay, yeah? Oh, sure, I can meet you…oh, okay, sure, should I bring Akamaru? No? Okay. Alright. Bye.” Kiba hung up, and looked guiltily at Naruto. “I know you’ve only just had surgery, but there’s a friend here on campus who has a pet dog, there’s something wrong with her, and the vet won’t open til’ tomorrow morning, so she’s asked me to check her over. She’s not too far away, but I might be a while. I need to pick up some of my books. I know I can’t diagnose her, but I can do something in the interim.” They got back to the accommodation, and Kiba ran off into the darkening world outside. Hinata and Ino greeted them, and they talked about Naruto’s surgery for a while, then they all watched a bit of TV. Half way through a movie, the power cut. They all groaned, apart from Hinata who yelped and clung to the nearest person. The emergency lights were dim to put it nicely. The group all began to try and get up to go to their rooms to get torches and the like, but all ended up bumping into each other with many ‘ow’s and ‘I’m sorry’s and ‘that was my foot’. Eventually Sasuke spoke out.

 “Okay stop, stop, everyone just stop. Everyone, sit down where you are, we’re just going to hurt each other like this. Just, listen to where I am, I’m going to my room to get some candles. They burn really brightly. Just, give me a second, I’m moving across the room, I, shit, was that someone I just trod on?” Hinata squeaked again. “Sorry. Okay, I think I’m clear, give me a mo…” They heard his footsteps going to his room, then a glowing light as he reappeared with a candle. It really did burn brightly, it was like a torch. He went back and got two more like it, and soon the room felt warm and homely. Sakura went to her room and brought out blankets for people, and they all sat talking for a while, but eventually Ino couldn’t control herself.

 “Sasuke…you said your family has an interest in ghosts…” He nodded, “…could we hold a séance? Just a small one! Just for fun!” Sasuke frowned.

 “Séance’s aren’t just for fun…they can be dangerous.”

 “Yeah, but you’ll know how to do one safely, won’t you? I bet you even have the stuff for it!”

 “You mean the props? Please, a proper séance doesn’t need trinkets like those, those are just so people can pretend there are ghosts when they’re just pushing the stone.” His tone was disdainful, and the others could feel him caving out of pride. “Okay, I’ll set one up, but you all have to follow my instructions EXACTLY.” They all agreed, though Hinata seemed reluctant. Naruto felt a sudden flutter of excitement, this was it, he would find out. His eyes met Sasuke’s, and he knew they were going to be trying to get the same answers.

 Sasuke got some salt out of the cupboard, and moved the rug so that they had a hard, bare floor, easy to sweep. He made a circle, then made some symbols inside it. He told them all not to go into the circle, or break the lines. He chanted something, and got a bottle of water, a slate, and some chalk from his room, despite having said he wouldn’t need anything, chanting some more as he sprinkled the circle with water. He then placed the slate and chalk inside the circle. The salt began so glow, and seemed to melt slightly. They all sat around the circle, holding hands.

 “Spiritus vulpium…Ego instigo vos…Per virtutem meo de cognatione mea, Uchiha.” As Sasuke spoke, a wind picked up, and the candles flickered. Naruto, who was holding onto Sasuke’s hand on his left, and Hinata’s on his right, felt the girl tense. The other two girls stared at Sasuke, who opened his eyes, and stared at the air above the symbols. Something was forming, swirling in smoke, and then suddenly  _ Naruto was somewhere else, standing in front of a pile of bodies, that familiar voice saying “it’s not your fault, it’s not your fault”, agony spreading through him, something pulling him deeper and deeper, blood covering his hands, refusing to come out of his clothes as his mother scrubbed them, crying, stones flying at him, “MONSTER” being yelled at him, a twisting feeling as he watched them be ripped apart, blood all over the street, someone screaming and crying, agony burning through his body, someone with two faces looking at him, one half melting into sadness whilst the other half burned gleefully, a dog barking somewhere, a voice calling him, begging him to come back… _

 Naruto blinked away tears, still screaming, his mind was on fire, it was as if someone was pouring acid through his memories, he couldn’t bear it, gentle hands cradled him, a voice was apologising, and suddenly the lights came back on. The circle was gone, smoke hung in the air, Ino had her arms wrapped around Sakura and Hinata, Sasuke was holding Naruto, rocking him. That was how Kiba found them, he’d begun to run up the stairs once he’d heard Naruto’s screams, and burst in on the scene, Akamaru was barking from his room, trying to hurl himself through the door, but Kiba didn’t even pause, rushing straight to Naruto.

 “I didn’t know…” Sasuke was moaning, “I thought…how could I be so stupid…I had thought that if I could free him…but I wasn’t…I’m not experienced enough to…I don’t know what I’ve done I’m so sorry…” Kiba took Naruto, and held him. Seeing a familiar face, Naruto began to calm down, clutching at Kiba until he fell asleep. Kiba gently carried Naruto over to room F’s door, and Sakura jumped up, finding Naruto’s key and unlocking the door.

 “I’m going to stay in his room tonight. I’m not leaving him alone. Sasuke, Sak…in fact, all of you, come in with me so someone can tell me exactly what happened.” He went into Naruto’s room, and lay the boy on the bed. The others traipsed in, and Ino began telling him how it had been her idea for the séance, how reluctant Sasuke had been, but what he’d done, and how a smokey shape had appeared, and two eyes had looked at Naruto, then both Naruto’s eyes and the things eyes went red, and Naruto started screaming, and fell back. Sasuke made no comment, in fact he refused to speak.

 “Kiba…what’s happening to me…” Naruto asked, waking up, and crying in pain as he reached out to hold Kiba’s hand.

 “You remembered. Some terrible things happened to you, but your guardian, a spirit fox, is getting rid of the memories. It’s going to hurt, but you won’t remember it.”

 “It feels like I’m losing my mind…” Naruto whispered, then the hand holding Kiba’s went limp, and his eyes fluttered shut.

 “I need you all to help me. We have to stop Naruto…getting worse. No one tell him what happened. He fell asleep during the séance because of the anesthetic after effects. And you don’t want to hold another one because Hinata got scared. Is that okay Hinata?” He looked at the girl, and she nodded. “We have to stick to that. He will find out sometime, probably sometime soon, but…I have to protect him. You don’t know what happened. People died, there were two spirits, a good and bad, the good one became part of the bad to stop it, and as far as we’re aware there is no way to see or talk to the good one without the bad one being there, but the same is vice versa, the bad one can’t do anything because the good one is there. It’s…messed up. Not even I know everything. Please, help me protect him?” The others nodded, and one by one left the room. Kiba watched them go, and heard Sasuke hitting something in his room once his door had shut.

 Late in the night, Sakura knocked on the door, bringing Kiba some tea, and a blanket.

 “How’s he doing?” She whispered.

 “He’ll get better. He will.” Kiba was so absorbed with watching Naruto that he didn’t hear her leave. It was a long time before dawn.


	4. 4

 

 Naruto slowly woke up with a massive headache. He groaned, and heard someone in the room shift.

 “He graces us with his waking up.” Came Kiba’s voice.

 “What happened…?” Naruto grumbled, only remembering coming out of surgery. 

 “You guys tried to hold a séance.” The séance! Wait…he didn’t remember what had happened… “You conked out because you’d only just come out of surgery, idiot. And I got voted for the job of making sure you didn’t die in the night.”

 Naruto laughed, and sat up, rubbing his head, but when he looked at Kiba, there was something off. He seemed scared, or worried.

 “I’m not going to pass out again. Don’t worry so much. I’ll be fine.” He grinned and pulled some clothes on, Kiba following him to the kitchen. There was a whine from the hallway and Kiba swore, running back to let Akamaru out.

 “He really really needs to go out, I’ll be right back.” Kiba opened the front door and the dog dashed out, closely followed by his human. Sakura was in the kitchen making tea, Ino looked up as he entered.

 “Hey, there’s our fainting goat!” Ino cheered from the sofa, and Sakura grinned and put some tea in front of him.

 “Next time you come out of surgery, try being a bit less…enthusiastic.” Sakura chided.

 “Yeah, I will.” He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, and sat down with Ino, watching TV. Sasuke’s door opened, and the raven came out, pulling something out of the fridge. “Oh, hey Sasuke! Sorry for ruining your séance, we could do it again if you like?” His smile faltered when Sasuke turned to look at him. That icy coldness was back. The raven walked back to his room, and slammed the door. “…sheesh, I only ruined a séance, he’s a bit touchy…” Sakura and Ino exchanged a glance behind Naruto’s head.

 “Actually, we can’t. Hold another one I mean.” Ino said, “Once you’d been carried to your room, Hinata got scared, so we had to stop. I think Sasuke’s just…tired.”

 Naruto nodded, but suddenly felt lonely. He’d only just made new friends, and now one of them seemed to have done a 180. They had nothing to do for the day, so once Kiba came back, they started work on their flat’s presentation, Hinata joining them around midday. She seemed twitchy, and reluctant, and around lunchtime Sasuke re-appeared to get lunch. Throughout making it, he ignored the group, and slammed his door shut. Hinata became tearful, so in the end Sakura suggested they go for a walk. With just Ino, Naruto and Kiba working on the project, not a lot got done, but they worked out things for each person to contribute. Apart from Sasuke, who they decided they couldn’t count on. Naruto ended up heating up the first one of Tsunade’s pack lunches, and devoured it happily. It was a moussaka, and tasted amazing. Eventually they all went to their rooms to work individually on bits, Ino greeting Hinata and Sakura outside Naruto’s door when they came back to tell them their parts. For a moment Naruto was sure he heard whispers, but then Ino’s door shut. The girls must all be working together. The rest of the day was uneventful, apart from Kiba pawing at his door, and begging to be let in, so for a while they hung out, and worked together. Around eight at night Naruto noticed that his timetable had gone up, as had Kiba’s.

 “Aw man.” Naruto groaned when he noticed that several of his lectures were on Monday, meaning he was going to be thrown straight into work. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, he had a deadline in two weeks time. “Who gives first years a deadline in their second week?” He asked, indignantly.

 “Count yourself lucky, I have two labs next week. I don’t think I can even remember how to hold a pipette, much less use one…” Kiba grumbled something else, then shut his laptop, saying goodnight to Naruto, pausing at the door. “Tomorrow’s the treasure hunt. Let’s win okay?” He grinned, and sauntered back to his room. Naruto couldn’t help smiling. Sasuke would have to interact with them tomorrow.

 

_  The wind was gentle. A voice spoke beside Naruto. _

_  “I’m sorry. I thought that the next time we met would be…better.” _

_  “I…don’t know who you are…” Naruto whispered. _

_  “No…but you know me.” Something curled around him, like a soft blanket. _

_  “Don’t leave me?” _

_  “I never have done.” _

_  A shadow moved far away, someone was walking past the fence at the end of the garden. Naruto called out, and the figure froze, but then carried on walking. _

_  “He’ll come back. You’re likable. And he likes you.” He could feel the voice smiling. “He’s just had a scare.” _

_  “Will I remember you when I wake up?” Naruto asked, realising it was a dream. _

_  “…No.” _

_  “Oh.” Naruto stared up at the blue sky. “That sucks.” _

 

 “ALRIGHT GANG, THIS IS YOUR TREASURE HUNT WAKE UP CALL!”

 Naruto fell with a thud over the side of his bed. Someone was ringing a bell outside his bedroom

 “THE HELL ARE YOU PLAYING AT OLD HAG?” He yelled, yanking his door open.

 “I AM NOT AN OLD HAG!” Temari yelled, hands on her hips.

 Naruto stared at her blankly for a moment, then yelled “WHY ARE YOU IN MY….hold on…Uni…okay that-BUT NO, STILL, WHY ARE YOU IN OUR FLAT?”

 “It’s the treasure hunt. I’m here to lay out your mission for you. I only have twenty minutes, so rise and shine!” She rang the bell at Naruto, who cringed and slammed his door, pulling on some jeans, a T-shirt, and a sweater. Grumbling, he went to the living room, followed by an equally grouchy and tired Kiba, Sakura was up already, and had made copious amounts of tea, which Ino seemed grateful of, glaring at Temari over her mug. Hinata was also sitting down in the living room, her head drooping as she almost fell back to sleep.

 “What time even is it?” Naruto complained, rubbing his eyes.

 “Five in the morning!” Temari beamed.

 “WHY THE HELL DOES THE TREASURE HUNT START AT FIVE IN THE MORNING?” Surprisingly it wasn’t Naruto that shouted, though he had almost done the same thing. It was a furious looking Ino, who seemed to burn with anger.

 “So that you guys get used to having to wake up before you’re ready. Think of it as training for deadline days.” Temari seemed far too happy about this whole thing, and Naruto thought she was showing her sadistic side. “Alright….2…3…5…wait…where’s number six? SASUKE!” She hollered, going and hammering on his door.

 “FUCK OFF.” Came the yell.

 “NOT ON YOUR LIFE. GET OUT HERE.”

 “AGAIN, FUCK OFF.”

 “I HAVE NEVER LOST A TREASURE HUNT TEAM, AND I’M NOT ABOUT TO NOW.”

 “YOU’RE REALLY NOT HEARING ME ARE YOU?”

 “I WILL GET THE FUCKING MASTER KEY IF I HAVE TO.”

 There was silence as Sasuke seemed to consider this, then his door clicked, and he stomped into the main room in his pyjamas.

 “Brilliant!” Temari beamed, clapping her hands together. “Alright, you guys get three items. You have to choose from six though. There’s a map, a nerf gun, a med kit, not real, just for the game, a compass, a set of walkie-talkies, and a clue.

 “What?” Said Ino, Naruto, and Kiba together.

 “Oh, right, to explain, this is a game where there will be challenges and puzzles. Each team has their flat number as their name. The other houses aren’t doing the treasure hunt, it’s just for you lucky guys and the rest of the building. It works a lot like a computer game, you all get head-bands, so that you know who else is playing. If you have a nerf gun, you can attack and eliminate other players, but if you have a med kit, you can heal people up. You might find more guns and bullets, you might find more med kits, but if you start with them, you can take out other teams faster, and steal their items. If you die, you can either be healed immediately with a med kit, by anyone, so you can bargain with other peoples team members, black mail, deals, whatever, take hostages. OR, you get back your life after three hours. Time enough for people to take the treasure you were after. Next up, the map. Everyone’s maps are different, and show different treasures, you can steal maps or trade maps, they have instructions, some need a compass, if you don’t have one, then you have to make a guess. Sometimes tasks will require you to split up, or, as you run out of time, you might just decide to send one half of the group off to do one task, and the other to do another, to save time. You can plan to meet at X place, but if one half get murdered, or take longer, you won’t be able to know unless they have a walkie talkie. Oh, yeah, you’re not allowed to use phones. You’ll be dumping your phones in my bag, ALL of you,” There were groans all around, “And I’ll be giving you emergency phones. These are only to be used in emergency, and will only call campus security. So if someone really gets hurt, or lost. And then there’s the clue. There will be clue’s all along the hunt, but there’s one big treasure. If you get that, you win. And your clue will give a hint about where that is. But think carefully. If you pick the clue, and find the treasure first, it can be stolen from you. You can camp, and hide, but once another team finds it gone, they will start looking for you. Also, if you take the clue, and a team captures or eliminates you and steals the clue, they are one hint closer to finding the treasure. And one hint might not be enough for you to go on. The other way to win is to get multiple treasures. They correlate with prizes, and the team with the most prizes also get a special prize. Choose carefully. Once I’m gone, you’ll have about 100 minutes, so one hour forty minutes, to work out an action plan. The order of the rooms was decided randomly. You guys are first. You get the most time to think. Use it wisely. But pick your items now.”

 The group stared at her, trying to take it all in. They debated for a while, weighing up the value of things, voting, arguing, and finally settling on a map, a gun, and a med kit. The med kit could heal six times, and the gun could shoot six bullets. Temari smiled at them, wishing them luck, and taking their phones, handing out the emergency ones and headbands, and sweeping away to the next room.

 “Okay.” Kiba said, spreading out the map. “It looks like there’s one treasure by the union building, there’s a puzzle piece, so I guess that one needs something solved, there’s one over by the chemistry building, no, wait, god damn, it’s a starting spot, we need to use a compass to direct us to the treasure…four steps east, face north, look at the pillar of wisdom, under it lies what you seek. Okay. Fine. We’ll work something out.”

 “You know we can work out where north, south, east and west are easily by finding one of the campus maps…” Sakura interjected, shrugging when all the bad morning people sent a glare her way.

 “It’s not fair that she can think so clearly so early.” Ino huffed.

 “Moving on, there’s something by the math’s café…inside the maths café? And something by the bus stop outside our accommodation… should we get that one first?” The group agreed. “I literally have no idea what else to do for the next hour forty…”

 “Drink caffeine, have breakfast?” Naruto supplied, and they all agreed, Kiba giving Akamaru a bowl of food in his room, as the dog wouldn’t be coming with them. The start time came sooner than they had expected, but Kiba came up with a plan. Though the group might lose the treasure close to them, they were going to delay leaving. It would mean they were less likely to enter a gunfight. A buzzer rang shrilly through the building, and they heard doors unlocking, and yells, cries, people shouting “BANG BANG MOTHERFUCKER!” They all waited by the door as the noise faded away, the groups clearly moving outside. They were about to go out when Kiba held up his hand, hearing something. There were more yells as a second wave left the building, and possibly an ambush happened. They waited a few minutes, then crept out. There were six people in the hallway, who had clearly all been shot when they came out, and who waved to group 25 as they slipped past. There were more people wandering around in headbands, going back to their rooms because fuck off if people thought they were going to sit on their own in the hallway for three hours. Just as the team got down the stairs to the ground floor, a team came out of room 2. Both teams had a gun, and both froze, staring at one another.

 “…stalemate?” Said a red haired boy in that team, and Kiba nodded. They both walked silently outside, and their groups followed. When they got out, Kiba turned to look left, at the bus stop. “We’re going right. If you shoot us in the back, we’ll get revenge.” The boy said, and Kiba nodded.

 “Same to you. Shake?” They shook, and the atmosphere relaxed as the boy grinned at them, before turning as his team jogged away, a cheerful looking girl with two black buns of hair on her head winking at Naruto. Kiba watched them go, then turned to the bus stop. They all crowded around, and Kiba found a small box hidden under one of the seats. Inside was a laminated piece of paper, on it was the word ‘Arts’. Kiba sighed. “Looks like we’ve found a clue gang. Great. Oh, hang on…” He rummaged around under the seat again, and pulled out a red ribbon attached to another laminated piece of paper. This one read ‘Prize 53’. “Oh SCORE! Who wants to be in charge of this? Who’s a fast runner?”

 “I was first in the sprint at college…” Sakura piped up, and Kiba grinned, passing it over to her to put in her pocket. They went to the one by the student union building next, but after looking for ten minutes, they decided it must have been taken. They were on their way to the maths building when Sakura squeaked, and dashed over to a tree. In the tree was a clue, this one said ‘Chemistry’. They grinned and pocketed the clue. Two buildings, one was bound to have the main treasure in it. Just as they rounded a corner to the maths building, they saw another team having a gun fight. Kiba tried to step back, but they’d been seen.

 “Sakura,” Kiba hissed, “run to the chemistry building, hide inside, Ino go with her, we’ll find you, now!” She sped off, Ino following her. The group ahead of them shot their nerf gun, missing Kiba, but hitting Hinata, Kiba fired the gun as Sasuke ran forward, dodging bullets and picking up a discarded gun. Both Kiba and Sasuke took down three of the team attacking, fallen members of the third group moaning dramatically from the floor. Kiba got shot, but then Sasuke took down the gun-man, and the last one standing.

 “NOOOOO!!” Naruto cried, grabbing Kiba.

 “Dude, you have a med kit.”

 “Oh…yeah.” Naruto said, sticking one of the stickers on Kiba’s forehead, then one on Hinata’s. “I pronounce you healed.”

 Kiba shook his head in despair, and they advanced on the maths door.

 “Wait,” Sasuke said, “We should loot the body’s…” The fallen teams groaned in despair.

 “I tell you what,” Kiba said to the group who had been attacked by the gun crazy group, “if you promise to owe us a favour, we’ll only take some of your stuff, and we’ll heal one of you up. To help the rest. Deal?”

 “WHAT?” Cried the main gun man of the other team. “WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?”

 “Oi, shut up will you?” Kiba said, turning back to the girl he was talking to.

 “Deal.” She said. Hinata and Sasuke looted the gun crazy group, getting two treasures, a med kit with three stickers in it, and a clue that said “English” On it. The other team handed over the treasure from the maths café, two bullets, bringing them back up to three bullets, and a clue that said “Psychology.”

 “Ah man…” Kiba said, eyeing up the clues. “That makes it four buildings. We have to check them all. Alright, lets go to Sakura and Ino first.” He glanced back at the team they’d left on the floor. “And watch out for them,” He muttered, “I think they’re going to come after us.” They ran over to the chemistry building, and spent another twenty minutes looking for the girls. During their search they found a nerf gun and a pack of six bullets, Kiba cheering happily. Soon they spotted the two girls sneaking up the stairs, and hissed up to them. They all shared what they’d found, Sakura and Ino had found another treasure, and had seen people sneaking around the front, looking for them. They all waited by the doors until it looked clear, then running over to the spot marked on the map. They all followed the instructions, staring around blankly.

 “What the hell is a pillar of knowledge?” Kiba said in despair, but Hinata seemed to be staring at something.

 “Um…I think I can see a book case in that building…” The group went over to the building, Sure enough, poking out of the books was a red ribbon. But they couldn’t work out how to get in. They wasted more time finding a door, eventually getting there, and noticing a clue beside the treasure. It said ‘Entrance’ on it.

 “I…think we’re going to have to split up…” Kiba said as they all huddled out of view. “We’ve looked in the chemistry entrance, there’s nothing there, so that clue must have meant something else. That leaves the English, Arts, and Psychology buildings. We don’t have much time left.” He said, eyeing a clock on the wall. “Let’s split into three, and agree to meet back here, right here, in an hour latest.”

 “Dib’s Sakura.” Ino said, bluntly.

 “Dib’s Naruto.” Kiba copied, but Naruto saw the look of fear on Hinata’s face.

 “I think I should go with Sasuke.” Naruto attempted.

 “No.” Kiba stated.

 “Why not?” Naruto said, and when Kiba looked at him to respond, Naruto tilted his head at Hinata. Kiba frowned, and Naruto looked more significantly in Hinata’s direction, Kiba glanced over and saw her nervous face. Sighing, he gave way.

 “Fine, I’ll be with Hinata. Alright, we’ll go to Arts, Sakura and Ino, take English, Sasuke, Naruto, go to psychology. Alright, split.” They all sped off in different directions, each team taking two treasures, Naruto swapping his med kit for a gun, Sakura taking a med kit, Kiba keeping his gun. Naruto felt a thrill, running beside Sasuke, but was also terrified. This may have just been a game, but it was incredibly immersive. Just as he was thinking about a death-speech, Sasuke yanked him down behind a bush. Another team were walking into the psychology building.

 “Shit.” Sasuke said, leaning back against the wall of a building. “well, guess we just have to wait.”

 “You’re shitting me, we just…wait?”

 “Yup.”

 Naruto grumbled, but sat back as well, keeping an eye on the building. Half an hour later, the group left, and Sasuke and Naruto crept into the room. They looked around, and couldn’t see anything at first, but then they spotted a blue ribbon dangling out from a shelf in a closet. They pulled it out, and it read ‘treasure’ on it.

 “I…I think we found it…” Naruto said in a hushed tone. He shoved it into his pocket, but then as they turned around, the door behind them slammed shut. Naruto yelled out, and tried to open the door, but it clicked shut.

 “That’ll teach you to take sides.” Came a voice from outside, it was the gunner they’d looted from earlier.

 “It hasn’t been three hours!” Naruto yelled.

 “Someone healed me up. Not that I thanked them for it. Now I’M going to find the treasure. Enjoy your stay.” He cackled, and left them. Naruto kept hammering on the door, yelling to be let out, but eventually Sasuke pulled him back.

 “BAKA, THERE’S NO ONE THERE. Save yourself, and me, a headache, and just sit down.” Naruto grumped, but sat down Sasuke sitting down opposite him.

 “I guess now no one gets the big treasure.” Naruto said sadly.

 “Yeah. And we’re stuck in a cupboard.” Sasuke said. Staring at the shelves, and picking out a book. “At least there’s something interesting in here.”

 “Am I that boring?” Sasuke blushed at Naruto’s words.

 “No, I just…I just don’t feel like talking.”

 “How about dancing?”

 “…you do realise we’re in a cupboard, right?”

 “I do, it’s just…” Naruto paused, trying to find the right words. “…you seemed really into me before, but now…you’re really cold.”

 Sasuke stared at him for a moment, his cold expression melting slightly.

 “I’m not really overly friendly to anyone.”

 “…I’m sorry I ruined your séance.”

 “…what makes you think you ruined it?” Sasuke asked suspiciously.

 “I blacked out and you had to stop. I know a lot of people think séances are just fun but…I know how serious they are.” He leant his head against a shelf. “I really wanted to find out about my past.”

 “…maybe it’s good that you didn’t.”

 “Why would you say that?” Naruto said, locking eyes with Sasuke.

 “It’s just…not everything people forget is forgotten because it was unimportant. Sometimes…you forget bad things…”

 “I know that, I’m not an idiot. But I’m tired of not knowing. I’m eighteen. I’m old enough to know now.”

 Sasuke stared at Naruto’s determined face, and smiled slightly.

 “If you’re that determined, I guess I could ask my parents some stuff.”

 “You would? OH MY GOD YOU’RE AWESOME!” Naruto said, diving at Sasuke for a hug, but misjudging it. Their lips crushed together in a kiss, and Naruto struggled to sit up, Sasuke’s wide eyes staring into his, but then it began to feel good. It began to feel nice. Naruto’s lids drooped, and Sasuke deepened the kiss. They broke apart briefly, and Sasuke breathed “Do you really want th-“ Naruto pressed into Sasuke again, Sasuke wrapping his arms around the blonde’s waist, and sliding his hands under Naruto’s shirt. Naruto weakened in his arms, sliding down on top of him, moaning, and feeling a pressure from Sasuke’s crotch, opening his mouth, and Sasuke biting the blonde’s lip slightly, before entering with his tongue.

 “Um…are…are you guys doing what I think you’re doing?” Came Kiba’s voice, and Naruto yelped, falling back off of Sasuke, who was bright red and panting.

 “NO, NO, UM…” Naruto grabbed a book and hit Sasuke over the head with it, causing him to yelp. “SASUKE HIT HIS HEAD ON THE SHELF. WE’RE FINE. I mean, we’re in a cupboard, but NO NO WE’RE FINE.”

 “oookaaaaay, I’m opening the door now…” Kiba said, and there was a click. Kiba was standing in the doorway with Hinata and the red haired guy from room one.

 “This guy saved you guys, he saw that dickhead entering after you, and locking you in, he tried to get in but the guy had locked the door to the building as well. Luckily I know the codes because I looked them up before. But he got his group to come find me. So it’s thanks to him.”

 “It’s cool. No one likes a griefer.” He smiled.

 “I…we found the treasure, the ultimate treasure…” Naruto said, “…but I feel like he deserves it more. Um…”

 “Gaara.”

 “Gaara. He saved our sorry arses, can…can we give him the prize?” Naruto asked Kiba, who seemed to be having the same internal fight.

 “ugh, yeah, yeah that sounds right.”

 “Dude, keep it. You found it, you won it. Just…owe us some of it if it’s booze or something.” Gaara grinned, and walked away, a gun over his shoulder, turning back to briefly wink at Naruto.  _ What is it with people and winking at me. _ Naruto thought, embarrassed.

 “Okay, let’s find the others.” Kiba said, and they all sprinted out and over to English building. Ino was sitting on the floor, Sakura beside her.

 “We got shot. We lost our treasures.” Sakura said despondently.

 “Naruto got the big one.” Kiba grinned, and Sakura squealed, clapping her hands. “Alright, that Gaara guy gave me some med kit stickers, I’ll heal you two up, then we’ll go back to the accommodation with our prize!”

 The team entered the building grinning like hero’s, gaara’s team were there as well. The cute girl who had winked at Naruto was there, her ankle bandaged up.

 “Guess who fell down the stairs by the maths building.” She said sheepishly. “But so far, we’ve got the most prizes!” Kiba grinned at her, and hi-fived Gaara. They presented their prizes and the blue ribbon to the house-master. He smiled at them, and handed them a bottle of mead, six tickets to the cinema, a basket of apples and a toy bunny. Then he gave them a gold ticket and got them to sit down. Kiba stayed by the table for a while, talking to him with Gaara about the guy who had locked Naruto and Sasuke in the cupboard. The house-master looked very serious, and when more people came in, they seemed to be saying similar things. Temari appeared as the deadline drew near, and cried out in joy when she saw Kiba holding the golden ticket. It turned out that when she was in first year, her room had won the gold ticket as well, which was why she became in charge of one of the floors last year and this year. She had loved the treasure hunt, and looked forward to it all year. Eventually everyone had collected their prizes, and the gun crazy guy turned up, looking smug, that was until the house-master took him aside, scolded him, and took away all his groups prizes, handing them out to some of the teams that had been targeted by him. Eventually the entrance was packed full of all the groups.

 “Can I have your attention.” The house master called. “It’s time to award prizes. The team that found the most prizes was Team 2.” There was a cheer from more than just team 25 and 2, which was Gaara’s team, it seemed they’d helped more people, and got prizes out of it. The house master handed them a box of champaign. “Next, after talking to team 13’s student rep, we’ve decided to give a bonus prize to them, as every single member sustained an injury.” There was a lot of laughter, and a group in the corner, most of whom sported bandages, grinned, and their captain went up and collected a large box of chocolates, sharing them together along with some others, who seemed to have helped them. “Finally, the gold ticket. Team 25, could you come up please?” There was much applause as they climbed onto the makeshift stage, and were handed a wicker basket containing alcohol, what looked like about two weeks worth of food supplies for the entire flat, both fresh and tinned, as well as chocolates. There was a lot of cheering, and pats on the back as they made their way back to their spot. “All right everyone, that’s it, thank you all for another great years treasure hunt!” The crowd dissipated, and team 2 came over, congratulating them.

 “We’re going to be having a party tonight in our flat, not many people, but we thought you’d like to come. We’ll be opening at least one bottle of champaign.” Gaara grinned at Kiba, who held out the box of chocolates to the rest of team 2, who happily accepted some.

 “That would be awesome. I think we need to head upstairs to re-charge, but then yeah, that would be great. What time?” Kiba packed up the basket, leaving all the chocolates with team 2 as the rest of his team had suggested.

 “Around eight, see you then?”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

 “Yeah, great!” They said goodbye, and then team 25 went back up to their flat, slumping through the door.

 “That was way too much exercise.” Ino said, falling onto the sofa, making room for Sakura.

 “Um…can I make tea for everyone?” Hinata asked nervously.

 “Oh that would be lovely!” Sakura beamed, glad for once that someone else was taking on that responsibility. Kiba opened the door to his room and hugged Akamaru, who seemed gleeful his owner had finally returned.

 “Oh Akamaru, I missed you so much, oh you’re so lovely and soft, I forgot how soft you are! Oh god, you need to go out don’t you? I am literally going to just sit down whilst you piss. No walk today. No, I’m sorry. Not right now. I’m wrecked.”

 “I could take him!” Hinata suggested. “I…I’ve been wanting to play with him for a while.”

 “Oh! Sure! That would be awesome! He runs off the lead fine, and is good around roads, but stick to the campus just in case. In fact, actually, if you can run around with him, I can come with you. Just, throw the ball and stuff whilst I sit on a bench. I saw a good spot today. Just gimme a sec, I need a shower, and Aki needs the loo.” He went out, and was back in no time, jumping into the shower. Hinata stroked Akamaru lovingly, gushing over him, Sakura soon joining him. Sasuke had made an excuse to go to his room for a while, so Naruto sat with Ino.

 “If you want some time with Sakura…” He hinted at Ino, who laughed. “Dude, if I want some time with Sakura, I’ll just ask her if she wants to hang out on my room.” She winked at him. “You should try that with Sasuke. Kiba told me what he heard. Sub-tle. Hit his head. Really?”

 “…I hit him with a book.”

 Ino exploded into laughter.

 “What’s up?” Sakura asked.

 “Naru…Naruto hit…Sas…ke…in the head…with a book…” Ino said, unable to control herself.

 “…why?” Sakura said, looking confused.

 “Just…just come with me to my room.” Ino giggle snorted. “I’m so elegant. But seriously, I’ll explain over some anime.” They both left to go into room C. Hinata and Akamaru came over, chatting with Naruto until Kiba came out. Then the dog took his human and new friend for a walk. Naruto leant back on the sofa, relaxing, and heard Sasuke’s door open. The raven walked over to the fridge and pulled out some milk. He poured it into a cup, then mixed some chocolate Nesquik with it.

 “I never figured you to be a chocolate guy.”

 “I never figured the first guy I kissed at uni would hit me over the head with a book.”

 Naruto flushed. “I panicked okay?”

 “And why couldn’t you just admit what we were doing?”

 “Because…” Naruto paused, finding it hard to explain. “…because I didn’t want Kiba thinking…and…” Sasuke stiffened.

 “You and Kiba clearly have a thing, please don’t involve me.”

 “What? Oh, no, no not that kind of thing.”

 “Then what kind of thing?” Sasuke said icily.

 “I just…don’t want him to think less of me.”

 “Then what must you think of me?”

 “I don’t mean it in that way…”

 “Then what way do you-”

 “I’VE NEVER KISSED A GUY BEFORE OKAY?” Naruto yelled, and Sasuke stared at him, blankly, as Naruto felt his face heat up.

 “You’ve…”

 “Never.”

 “I’m…”

 “My first.”

 Sasuke suddenly flushed red, and seemed at a loss for what to say. Then seemed to make a decision, putting down his drink, and crossing over to Naruto, leaning over him, placing his arms either side of Naruto on the back of the sofa.

 “Did you like it?” Naruto could smell chocolate on his breath this close, and felt his own breathing quicken.

 “…yes.” He said, but it came out as a whisper. Then Sasuke was leaning in, his lips inches away. Naruto tried to meet them, but they inched back, out of range, taunting him, making him lean forward, until suddenly they met, and their lips were pressing into one another. Naruto reached up and gripped Sasuke’s shirt, which he now realised was loose, and thin, letting him brush his hands against the ravens white skin. Sasuke climbed on top of Naruto’s lap, burying one hand in the golden hair, reaching the other one under Naruto’s top and gently grazing his back with his nails. The two were locking together, Sasuke’s tongue searching Naruto’s mouth obsessively, the taste of chocolate spreading throughout, gently rocking in time with their breaths, speeding up faster and faster until there was a laugh from Ino’s room, and Sasuke broke away. They both panted, and Naruto leant forwards as if to continue, but Sasuke stood up. He had a smirk on his face.

 “If you want more, you’ve got to earn it.” He had a sly look in his eye, and sauntered back to his room, Naruto not able to help staring at his arse.

 “Fuck.” Naruto breathed as he heard Sasuke’s door shut. What had he just got himself into? Looking down, he groaned. That had to be dealt with then. He went to his room, wondering how Sasuke had dealt with his after the cupboard incident. As he began, he couldn’t stop thought’s of Sasuke’s skin, his arms, his tongue, his lithe body against Naruto’s own…he climaxed faster than normal, and threw the tissue away, flopping back on his bed.  _ But still _ , he smiled, looking at his scars, his healing still being as stupidly fast as ever, _ this certainly has been a great start to Uni. _

 

 The group gathered around eight thirty, after Ino had literally dragged Sakura away from the bathroom, where she was re-doing her make up for the last time.

 “But I just don’t know if the blue eye shadow goes with the purple-”

 Ino took Sakura’s face in her hands and stared at her.

 “Just as I thought, perfect.” She said, after visually examining Sakura, who blushed and didn’t say another word. Finally they made it down to flat 2, Akamaru cheerfully trotting along beside them, happy to finally be included. Music was blaring from the flat, and as they entered they realised that several other flats had gate-crashed as someone from another flat opened the door to them. There were about thirty people in the small flat, hovering in the hallway chatting, or sitting in the living room. They spotted Gaara on the sofa, and he got up to greet them. Ino and Sakura went over to the kitchen, sampling the alcohol, Hinata sitting down on the floor next to Akamaru.

 “Guys, this is Tenten.” Gaara said, introducing the girl with the buns on her head.

 “Hi, I knew I’d get hurt during the treasure hunt, so no pity. I’m terrible at knowing not to jump over walls if I don’t know what’s on the other side.” Kiba laughed, and sat down on the other side of Akamaru. “Oh, your dog is lovely!” Soon Kiba was chatting away about dogs to Tenten, and Gaara introduced a guy who seemed to be asleep.

 “This is Shikamaru.” The sleeping guy raised a hand and saluted, flopping his limb back down again. “Don’t worry, he’s not drunk, just lazy.” Gaara ended up pouring Naruto champagne, Sasuke saying he wanted something else to drink, preferring non-fizzy alcohol, and going to make himself a vodka orange. The party went on, Naruto talking to plenty of people, and chatting about food with Chouji, another of Gaara’s flatmates. Sasuke seemed to be distant, not coming over, and generally not paying attention to Naruto, which made him feel sad. Sasuke was the attention of a lot of girls as well, and Naruto slowly got more drunk, feeling more and more jealous. Sasuke wasn’t even interested in girls.  _ But he seems to like the attention. _ Naruto thought grumpily. Sasuke was sending far too many mixed messages for him to cope with. Gaara sidled over to Naruto and put his arm behind him over the sofa back.

 “So…Sasuke seems to be giving you the cold shoulder.”

 “What?”

 “He doesn’t seem to want to be involved. Maybe he’s pissed about the cupboard thing.”

 “…I did hit him with a book.” Gaara snorted with laughter. “But I apologised, and he said it…well…he didn’t actually say it was okay, but…he kind of did…”

 “How d’you mean?” Naruto glanced over at Sasuke, who was staring uninterestedly away.

 “I…just mean we…made up.”

 “You sound like you’re a couple.”

 “Oh, we’re not.”  _ I don’t think… _ Naruto mentally added.

 “Maybe…maybe we could…do something?” Gaara looked into Naruto’s eyes, and reached a hand over, brushing a thumb over the blonde’s lips, sending a shiver down his spine. “Maybe…if you’d let me, we could…get closer…” Gaara inched towards Naruto’s face.

 “I…but…Sasuke…” Naruto said, leaning back slightly.

 “He doesn’t seem to care.” Gaara reached out and held Naruto’s head still, Naruto felt the world spin slightly as the alcohol hit his head. He slumped slightly. It wasn’t like Sasuke was even paying attention. And Gaara was cute. But no, no he didn’t want to do this,

 “I don’t want to…” Naruto slurred.

 “I’m going to let you into a little secret.” Gaara said, whispering into Naruto’s ear, “I’m not actually going to do anything. I’m doing you a favour. I’m making Sasuke jealous. Just watch.” He pushed Naruto back against the sofa arm, and pinned him. Suddenly, just when Naruto felt confused, and not sure what Gaara meant, Sasuke was there, pushing Gaara off him.

 “I don’t think you should do that.” Sasuke said in an icey tone.   
 “You seemed perfectly happy with the others.” Gaara mocked.   
 “Naruto is with me.”

 “You could have fooled me.”

 “Did you even ask if he wanted this?”

 “Did you?”

 Sasuke glared at Gaara, and grabbed him by the collar.

 “Sasuke, it’s okay, Gaara was just…was just…I’m not entirely sure…but he wasn’t going to do anything.” Naruto said, trying to stand up, and falling into Sasuke’s arms as he let go of Gaara.

 “How much have you had to drink?”

 “I dunno…” Naruto said, swaying.  Sasuke held him, looked at him, then led him out of the flat. Naruto looked back and caught Gaara winking at him. “What the hell?” Naruto said, yanking himself out of Sasuke’s grip as they left the flat.

 “You’re drunk, you don’t know what you’re doing.” Sasuke said, rounding on him.

 “Maybe I do, huh? Did you think of that?”

 “And what exactly were you doing back there?”

 “I…don’t know…” Naruto admitted. “But Gaara did nothing wrong.

 “He was taking advantage of you.” Sasuke seemed incredibly angry, but also protective. Though he was fuming, he looked at Naruto with concern.

 “I…I appreciate what you’re doing, but he really was just helping…”

 “Helping himself.”

 “He made you come over didn’t he?” Sasuke stared at Naruto, then laughed.

 “Seriously? He was just trying to make me jealous?”

 “Well it worked.”

 Sasuke glared at Naruto, then sighed, his expression calming.

 “I’m…reserving judgement on this. For now we need to get you back to your room.”

 They went up the stairs, and Naruto stumbled into his room. He grabbed Sasuke and tried to pull him onto the bed, but the raven resisted.

 “I thought you wanted to-” Naruto began, but Sasuke interrupted him.

 “You’re really drunk. I’m not taking advantage of that. Rest. I’ll still be here in the morning.” He left, and Naruto struggled out of his clothes. He heard the door go, and Kiba and Sasuke’s voices, then the door shut again. He slumped drunk onto his pillow. Things sure were confusing. And he was pretty sure that wasn’t just drunk Naruto talking.


	5. chapter 5

_  Something drifted past Naruto, so he opened his eyes, and saw something like red smoke floating past him. He reached out to try and hold it, but it melted around his hand. He moved in slow motion, drifting through the air, and looked up. There was a shining surface just above him, glittering like silver. Pushing up, he managed to propel himself to it, breaking through it, waves of water rolling off him. He looked around, and almost slipped back under the surface of the pool again. All he could to was flounder, trying to get closer to the edge, but only being able to float in the middle of this trap. There, at the edge of the pool, was the source of the red smoke. Blood running from her into the water, polluting it, her eyes glazed over, a small boy screaming beside her, trying to hold in the blood, trying to keep hold of his mother, begging her not to go. And then he was that little boy, sobbing uncontrollably, holding his jumper against her wound, pleading to someone, anyone, to help. Hands wrapped around him from behind, pulling him away from the corpse, and a shadow covered his eyes. “Naruto, it’s going to be alright” came Tsunade’s voice, and a familiar warmth enveloped him, dragging him into a golden landscape. _

_  “You don’t need to see this, not yet.” His companion said, as Naruto lay on soft grass under a beautiful sky. _

_  “See what?” He asked, forgetting it already. _

_  “The pieces of a puzzle.” Fragments of orange flitted past him, and he smiled, trying to catch them, feeling soft fur brush past his hands. _

_  “Can I stay here?” He asked. _

_  “…for a while.” The voice came from beside him, and nestled against his neck. “Looks like you’ve made a friend.” An image of Sasuke flashed across the sky. _

_  “I had my first kiss.” Naruto said, grinning. _

_  “I’m happy for you.” The voice smiled. “Build your bonds strong.” _

_  “I will.” He traced scars on his chest. “Why do I heal so fast?” He queried, distracted. _

_  “Because I’m still with you.” _

_  “Oh.” He paused, thinking. “I feel like we’ve had this conversation before.” _

_  “We have.” _

_  “Why don’t I remember it?” _

_  “Because you have to forget.” _

_  The two of them lay under the blue sky, the smell of something delicious swirling past them… _

 

 “Mrrr…” Naruto mumbled, his dream fading from his memory. “…ba…con?” He sat up, then cringed against his pounding headache. “Oh fuck…” He grumbled, trying to orientate himself. He looked around his room, not registering where he was for a few minutes, massaging his temples. After a while he remembered where he was, and tugged on a T-shirt and some baggy trousers. Slouching into the kitchen.

 “Morning!” said a voice cheerfully, and Naruto was about to greet Sakura, when he did a double take. It wasn’t Sakura making breakfast like normal, it was Hinata.

 “Um…I have…several questions…firstly, why are you so chipper?”

 “I didn’t drink.” She smiled.

 “Because she’s sensible.” Came a grumble from the sofa. Sakura was lying down, a cloth over her eyes, groaning slightly. “I should not have had that last set of jaeger-bombs.” She grumbled, and Naruto saw Kiba lying on the floor with Akamaru sleeping next to him.

 “Okay…that’s question number two answered, Sakura is hung-over…but now I have a new question…what happened to Kiba?”

 “I’m awake you know.” Kiba commented, rolling over so that he could bury his face in the dogs fur.

 “Just hung-over then?”

 “You say ‘just’ like it’s not a bad thing.”

 Naruto was about to sit down on an arm-chair when he noticed a bean bag on the corner of the room.

 “…I swear we didn’t have a beanbag yesterday…” Naruto commented.

 “Don’t ask me.” Kiba said.

 “Or me.” Sakura contributed, and Hinata shrugged.

 “Well, I’m going to sit on it.” Naruto said, flumping down on it. Ino came out of her room at that moment, cheerfully greeting everyone.

 “Now, I  _ know _ that  _ you _ drank…” Naruto said from his cocoon.

 “Yes, but unlike you lot, I can hold my drink.” She grinned, and helped Hinata serve the rest of the flat a cooked breakfast. Sakura tried to refuse, but Ino insisted saying, “Look, a cooked breakfast is a really good cure for a hangover. Bacon because it’s fatty, tomato for acidity, beans and bread to soak up any leftover alcohol, potato for some nice stodgy carbohydrate, and egg…well I’m not sure why, but it’ll work, trust me.”

 As they began to eat, Hinata knocked on Sasuke’s door, letting him know that 

The food was ready, and he came out, just as awake as Ino.

 “Let me guess, you know how to hold your drink as well?” Kiba grumbled as Sasuke smirked at the hung-over group.

 “Apparently so.” He settled on the floor near Naruto, and began eating.

 “This is really good.” Naruto said as he enthusiastically destroyed his breakfast.

 “I used some of the things we won, sorry I didn’t check with you Naruto…” She looked anxious. “Everyone else was awake when I asked, but you didn’t answer…”

 “Oh, no worries, it’s fine.” Naruto said, grinning. “I’m pretty happy to have used some of it to cure my hangover.”

 “But we should write up a table of what to use and when.” Sakura said, “Just so that we can all agree on meals, and use it all up before it goes bad.” There were various sounds of agreements as everyone munched their way through the breakfast. Sakura made coffee once she’d finished, looking happier. Naruto still had a bit of a headache, but felt better for the food.

 Sakura got her laptop out after breakfast, Kiba doing the washing up, and started to look through the things they could get into for free that day.

 “Looks like the clubs don’t open until around eleven, there are a few movies on though, the star wars film, The Force Awakens…Minions…Snoopy and Charlie Brown…Oh, and a re-showing of something or another…. Avengers Age of Ultron…Frozen…”

 “AVENGERS!” Kiba yelled, grinning.

 “I haven’t seen it yet.” Ino said, sitting down next to Sakura.

 “Oh my god it’s amazing!” Kiba said, open mouthed in shock.

 “Nor have I.” Hinata said.

 “Okay, lets go to that then!” Kiba beamed.

 “Cool.” Naruto grinned.

 “I’d quite like to see the Rocky Horror musical…” Sakura said, scrolling through more items.

 “What’s that?” Kiba asked, finishing the dishes.

 “Rocky Horror is a bizarre performance with lots of amazing songs, strange characters, brilliant costumes, cross dressing, corsets…” Ino trailed off as Kiba stared at her blankly. “Look, it’s really good okay?”

 “The plot line is a bit off the rails.” Sasuke contributed.

 “OH MY GOD YOU’VE SEEN IT?” Ino cried, looking at Sasuke with new found respect.

 “Okay, that’s showing at two thirty…Avengers is at six…we could go to them both, and then hang around until eleven?” Sakura said, writing things down.

 “I vote we go to Rocky Horror in costume.” Ino said, raising her hand.

 “No.” Kiba said, bluntly.

 “Oh come on,” Naruto grinned, “it could be fun!”

 “I have some corsets.” Hinata contributed.

 “I’m up for it.” Sasuke said, looking smug as Kiba glared at him. Sakura cackled, and Naruto found himself slightly regretting his agreement. The girls each took a boy, Hinata took Kiba, Ino took Sasuke, and Sakura had Naruto.

 “Hey Naruto,” Sakura said once they were in her room. “I have a black petticoat, Hinata gave us the orange corset…here, I have a black blouse…okay, put these on first, I’ll loosen the corset.” Naruto awkwardly struggled into the petticoat, but ended up really liking the feeling of the ruffles against his legs, which were covered in black swirly tights. Sakura helped him into the corset, padding his chest with some socks, and tightening the laces.

 “Ack…” Naruto gasped.

 “Too tight?” Sakura asked, releasing slightly.

 “Lil-bit…” Naruto wheezed, breathing deeply as the corset loosened a bit.

 “Okay. How’s that?”

 “Better.”

 “Right, make up time!” Sakura gleefully applied a deep almost black red to Naruto’s lips, then applied eyeliner, mascara, and red eye shadow. “Damn you look good.” She said, jealously, looking at the finished article, after adding some hair clips to Naruto’s hair and a black fascinator. “Okay, put these ankle boots on, here, I’ll help…okay, now look in the mirror. What do you think?”

 Naruto stared at himself. He didn’t quite look like a girl, but he looked amazing. The colours were kind of Goth, but his face looked quite feminine, and the orange brought attention to his waist, which hadn’t pinched in much, but did look elegant.

 “Nice!” Naruto praised, and Sakura grinned, before shoving him out into the hallway.

 “My turn now.” She grinned, shutting her door as Naruto teetered around, trying to get the hang of the heels. He didn’t notice Sasuke until the raven was in the living room with him. Naruto’s breath caught in his mouth. Ino had done an amazing job. Sasuke’s face was decorated like an old fashioned china doll, except for his lips, which reminded Naruto of a more elegant Joker, and he was in a deep blue dress, with a black cinch belt, and wearing fish nets and blue high heels. He strutted into the room as if he wore these all the time, and reached out to Naruto’s hips, stroking them.

 “Hello lovely, would you like to do something filthy with me?” He said in a sultry voice, and Naruto flushed, making Sasuke laugh. “Calm down. I just meant you look nice.”

 “I feel like I’m going to fall over. How the hell do girls wear these?” Naruto pointed at his boots.

 “Here, let me show you.” Sasuke went behind Naruto, and put his hands on the blonde’s thighs. “Just move like this, point your foot slightly, don’t stomp, let your foot settle down more…” Naruto felt his face going a deeper shade of red at Sasuke’s touch, but followed his directions, and soon found himself walking more easily. He was just getting the hang of it when Kiba came out. He looked beautiful, Hinata had done a brilliant job, with his hair made into a fluffy bob, and curving over his forehead, he looked like a real girl, his corset pinching his waist and giving him an hourglass figure. He wore a red under bust, with a white gypsy shirt, chest area filled out, and a fluffy waterfall skirt in red and purple waves. Kiba blushed furiously when Naruto stared open mouthed at him.

 “I look awful.”

 “Actually you scrub up well.” Sasuke grinned, Kiba scowling at him. His make up had contoured his face to look narrower, and more feminine, red lipstick and purple eye shadow. The three of them waited in the living room, Kiba learning to walk in high heels as well, though Sasuke was much less intimate with his lessons, and eventually the three girls came out. Hinata was in a gorgeous little purple Lolita dress, with a purple fascinator. Sakura wore a pink crop top and mini skirt, with chains and leather straps linking the two, black stockings with their suspenders showing, and pink high heels. Ino appeared last, wearing a pair of tight black leather trousers, a purple shirt and a black waistcoat, completed with a purple top hat. Sakura stared at her open mouthed, then flushed as Ino took her hand.

 “Madame, shall we go?” Ino said in a low voice, and Sakura flushed and nodded. They led the group out, Kiba chatting happily with Hinata, flattering her cute costume. Naruto fell into step at the back, next to Sasuke. He kept trying to think of things to say, but his mind stayed blank. They got on the bus, and were happily talking until some guys got on and wolf whistled them. The group ignored them, but then one came over, and began trying to talk to Naruto.

 “Hey beautiful.” He said, his breath stinking of smoke, “How much for you to blow me?” Naruto shoved him away, but the guy grabbed Naruto’s arm, and pulled him close, Naruto yelled and tried to hit him, but the guy dodged. “That’s not very nice, don’t you want to make me happy?” Then suddenly Sasuke had grabbed him and thrust him away, standing between Naruto and the guy. “Hey hey hey, did I offend your  _ girlfriend _ ?” The guy smirked, and Sasuke advanced.

 “No, but I thought you might like a real taste.” Sasuke spat, grabbing the guy’s crotch and squeezing. The guy yelled, pushing Sasuke away.

 “Fuck off, fag!”

 “I thought you wanted this?” Sasuke said, grabbing the guys collar.

 “Watch it…I’ll smash your pretty little face in…” He was about to do something when a hand grabbed his shoulder. Gaara and Tenten were there behind him, Tenten in full Goth combat gear, and looking menacing, Gaara in a suit, but with feminine make up.

 “I think you should get off the bus.” Tenten hissed, and the guy blanched, and got off at the next stop.

 “How did you do that?” Sasuke asked, curious about the speed with which the guy left, after Gaara and Tenten sat down next to them.

 “I went to school with him. I also took on five guys and won in year eight.” Tenten grinned. Naruto laughed, but also felt a little bit scared.

 “I thought you hurt your leg yesterday?” Sasuke said.

 “Oh, I did.” She pulled up her combat trousers to reveal the bandage. “But he didn’t know that.”

 They eventually arrived at the theatre, and bought their tickets. They ended up getting seats close to the front, and Naruto was sitting next to Sasuke, who was next to Gaara. Sasuke seemed to not be openly hostile at Gaara, perhaps he’d accepted what Naruto had said about Gaara not actually intending to do anything, but there was still a chilly vibe between the two. Naruto was just beginning to wonder if something was going to happen between them, when the performance started. And it was amazing.

 “Oh my god, that bit with the glitter!” Naruto was raving, “Aaaah I can’t get the time warp out of my head!”

 “Did you notice anything about the servant from the beginning?” Sakura grinned.

 “No?”

 “You’ll have to see it again then. I’m not ruining the secret sub-plot.” The group made their way to the cinema, Gaara and Tenten were going to see the minions movie, which started half an hour after the Avengers movie, but the rest agreed to wait for them after their movie. The group found the café which Sasuke had suggested earlier to sit down at, and began talking and laughing about the performance. More students appeared nearby, who were also all dressed up, and began singing some of the songs. Kiba immediately made friends with one of them, Hinata following shyly as he introduced her, and them being shocked on finding out that he wasn’t in fact a girl. After a while, Sasuke made an excuse to get up, asking Naruto to come with him. He went through a door saying ‘employees only’, Naruto hung back.

 “It’s okay, I know the owners. Or my dad does anyway.” Sasuke said. There was an employee just inside, who briefly stopped them, but Sasuke flashed a card at her, and she blushed, telling them to go right ahead. Sasuke led Naruto up some winding stairs, up to a balcony. Naruto felt a thrill at being somewhere forbidden, and leant against the railing, letting the wind ruffle through his hair and skirt. The town sprawled out before them, and he was sure he could see the sea just off in the distance.

 “This is amazing.” He said quietly, and turned to Sasuke, who looked serious. “What’s wrong?”

 “…I’ve never met anyone like you…” Sasuke looked away. “I’m use to people admiring me, or hating me. No one’s ever…treated me like normal. In school my family was famous, in college I had swarms of admirers…but everyone was so shallow. I…I thought at first you were just another happy-go-lucky person…”

 “I kind of am.”

 “But you’re not. You’re…different. You’re…like sunshine.” Naruto blushed.

 “Baka, I’m just normal.”

 “No you’re not.” Sasuke seemed actually angry. “I don’t…I don’t know how to react around you…I want to show off, I want to impress you…but I’m also scared of distancing you. I don’t want you to think I’m untouchable…”

 “…I don’t.” Naruto reached out and touched Sasuke’s cheek. “I haven’t done this before either. I’m going to be rubbish at it. But…okay, I feel stupid saying this now…but…I like guys like you. You’re…unpredictable, randomly cold, but…when it matters, you’re a nice person. Also protective. I kind of like someone who wants to protect me. And…” Naruto went scarlet, “…it’s really nice the way you tease me…”

 Sasuke smiled. Just as he was about to bring Naruto close though, the blonde swayed, and fell into his arms.

 “I…think the corset is limiting how much I can…breathe…” Naruto said drowsily.

 “Okay, let me help loosen it…” Sasuke lowered Naruto to the floor, and began unlacing the corset, but then Naruto’s world started to go dark, orange fur obscuring what was left of his vision.

 “Don’t…leave me…I don’t want…to forget…” he mumbled, passing out.

 

 Naruto slowly became aware of being on something soft. He opened his eyes, and found himself being carried in Sasuke’s arms and placed on a sofa. He closed his eyes again, feeling a bit sick.

 “Can you get me something sweet?” He heard Sasuke saying, and then a door shutting. He groaned, and opened his eyes again. “Idiot. Why didn’t you tell anyone you were getting breathless? I wouldn’t have brought you up all those stairs if I had known.”

 “But then I wouldn’t have been able to talk to you.” Naruto grumbled. Thinking  _ I also thought I’d get another kiss. _ Sasuke’s expression was unreadable, but he was putting Naruto’s feet up on a cushion. Something orange flashed in the corner of Naruto’s vision, but when he looked there was nothing there.

 “I don’t think you’re going to be able to go to the cinema. I think we should just go home.”

 “But…I’ll be fine…cinema…”

 “I’ll come home with you.”

 Naruto weighed up the options. Then agreed to go home. Kiba came in a little while later, with the girls trailing behind him, Naruto smiled despite the hollow feeling in his stomach. Something was badly wrong.

 “Damn it Naruto, stop scaring me.” He said, flicking Naruto in the head.

 “Oww.” Naruto glared at his friend.

 “I can come home too if you-”

 “NO!” Naruto said quickly, “No…no I…I’ll be fine.” Something was niggling at the back of his head, like a small voice he couldn’t quite hear.

 “…fine. But I’m coming home after the movie.”

 “…Okay.” Naruto agreed.

 “Don’t pass out again.” Sakura said, and the four of them left the room. Naruto drank the sugar water Sasuke had acquired for him in silence, feeling something growing in his mind. A voice chanting  _ “your fault, your fault, never going to forgive you, murderer, murderer.” _

 Sasuke seemed to notice that something was wrong, but when he asked, Naruto just denied it, plastering a smile on his face. They went home in silence, The feeling growing, the voice getting louder, Naruto locking his door when he got back to the flat, after telling a confused Sasuke that he’d be out in a bit. He changed into a T-shirt and jeans, easing out of the delicate costume, and then held out his arms. He looked at his wrists for a long time, and finally saw them. Faint, almost as if they’d been wiped away like his memories, were scars. Right across his wrists, slashing diagonally down. He stared at them, the voice getting louder still, and a memory flickered across his mind. Blood pouring from a woman, from his family, from a stranger, from some children… _ you, all you, monster, did you really think forgetting would make it not your fault? _ Naruto clutched his head as memories flooded through his head, they had bullied him, and suddenly something had sliced through one of their arms, a woman was sobbing, begging some higher power to bring back her son, offering her own life in exchange, and then she was dead too, her throat slit…he began to sob, his mind overflowing with blood. The guilt, the regret, the blame, he couldn’t take it, he looked over to the window, thoughts forming in his mind,  _ end it, destroy what is left of this life, _ he crossed over, _ wipe the slate clean, cut the plague that you are out of this world, _ yanking it open,  _ accept this, let this suffering end, _ and stepping out onto the ledge. He couldn’t hear anything over the roar of sounds from the images in his mind, everything rushing quickly at him, pushing him, so that all he needed to do was step out…just one step, and from this high it would all end…

 Arms grabbed him around the waist, and pulled him back into his room onto the floor.

 “THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?” Sasuke screamed at him, pale as a sheet, make up smudges all that remained of the day’s events, a clean white shirt half open. Naruto couldn’t help sobbing; the voices a tumultuous roar, the world speeding past him at a sickening rate.

 “It was my fault.” He cried, “I killed them, it was all me…”

 “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?” Sasuke’s terror only made Naruto’s guilt worse.

 “Just let me GO!” He yelled, tears pouring down his cheeks as he battled to get back to the window, only to be slammed back on the floor by Sasuke.

 “I don’t know what the HELL is going on, but don’t you FUCKING DARE.” Sasuke’s eyes were full of fear, and he wrapped his arms around Naruto, holding him. “I don’t know what it’s telling you, but it’s not true. That monster is not you, it’s just using you.” He gripped Naruto, and the blonde slumped in his arms, crying.

 “But you didn’t see…you can’t see…”

 “I can. I…” Sasuke seemed to pause, considering something. “…I can see into your dreams. I’ve seen the bodies, the blood, and the pain… I can see it. You’re not alone. I swear, I’m here. I always will be.” Naruto felt like his heart was shattering, his chest physically hurt. But Sasuke’s words got through to him, and he clung to the raven, begging him not to go. “I’m staying right here.” Sasuke hushed, “you don’t have to deal with this alone.”

 After Naruto calmed down, his sobbing turning into sniffs, Sasuke loosened his grip. “I’m…going to close the window…don’t move, okay?” Naruto nodded, and Sasuke got up, closing the window. But suddenly something in Naruto’s head snapped and snarled, he had to go. It didn’t matter what Sasuke had said, he had to go… He ran at the door, it’s lock broken, but Sasuke tackled him, pinning him to the floor.

 “No, let me GO!” Naruto said, wrenching at Sasuke’s grip, but the raven was stronger than him, and pinned his arms down on the floor beside him.

 “Not a fucking chance.” Sasuke said, glaring at Naruto, gritting his teeth.

 “If you care at all about anyone, you’ll let me end this, otherwise they will DIE.” Naruto spat.

 “Unfortunately, the person I most care about right this moment WILL die if I let you go.” It took Naruto a few moments of struggling to register what Sasuke had said.

 “…what?”

 “When I told you what you meant to me earlier, I meant it. I’ve never felt like this about anyone. ANYONE. So don’t you DARE take this away from me. You think I have a family I’m close to? Yeah, I do have a family, they all care loads about me, but they care more about their appearance, their status.” Sasuke was spitting the words out like poison, “My brother is the only one who’s ever given a fuck, and he’s gone, fucked off to some far away country just to get away from my obsessive father and manipulative mother. You think I have friends to turn to? You guys are the first real friends I have ever had. And you? Fuck, maybe it’s just some fucked up bit of my brain but I fucking love you.” Sasuke’s harshness vanished, and desperation slipped into his voice. “I love your smile, your laugh, your fucking attitude. Your past is messed up, and I want to save you from it, you have memories that haunt you, and though you don’t remember them, they have affected you. You’re disorientated every time you wake up, you latch onto Kiba like he’s your world, because he protects you. You’re scared. But you still laugh, and play, and fight. Fucking hell you fight, and you’re…you’re passionate. You try with all your might at everything you do. And you need me. I’ve never had anyone need me before. And…and I need you.” Tears began to fall from Sasuke’s eyes, and Naruto went limp, letting it all sink in. “I have never needed anyone like I need you. Please, please don’t leave me.” Sasuke sank over Naruto, wrapping his arms around the blonde, who hugged him back. The pair lay there, on the floor, until Naruto found his voice.

 “I’m…I’m sorry, they’re just so…loud.”

 “I know,” Sasuke said, his voice muffled. “But let me fight them with you.”

 “…Okay.” Naruto agreed, and Sasuke sat up, still straddling Naruto.

 “I’m going to try something. It…should make the bad one quieter.”

 “Okay.” Naruto said, completely trusting Sasuke. The raven pressed his thumbs against Naruto’s temples, and whispered something. The voice mocking and hissing at Naruto became quieter, and he felt his mind become his own again.

 “Did it work?” Sasuke said, removing his hands uncertainly. Naruto paused for a while, and then nodded. “Your lock is broken.” Sasuke looked away. Naruto felt a pang of guilt, he’d just made Sasuke bare his soul, and things felt awkward.

 “I…really am sorry…” Naruto said, but Sasuke still wouldn’t meet his eye. “…you don’t have to stay with me, I won’t do anything stupid…” Now Sasuke looked at him, eyes shining with concern.

 “Why would I want to leave?” He seemed genuinely surprised.

 “You…don’t seem overly happy about being here with me.”

 “…I’m worried. I’m also trying to work out what to tell the others. I…don’t think we should tell them all what happened…but Kiba needs to know.”

 “Oh.” Naruto said, then shifted slightly. “…can I sit up?” Sasuke flushed, and helped Naruto into a sitting position.

 “I think we should knock on Temari’s door.” He said, and entwined his hand with Naruto’s, leading him to room 21. They knocked, and Temari opened the door, her smile faltering at the puffy eyed Naruto and the emotionless Sasuke, her eyes darting to the interlocked hands then back to their faces.

 “…are you guys okay?” She asked, concerned.

 “Naruto’s door lock is broken.”

 “oh…kay…” She said, “I’ll tell the porter…they can fix it.”

 Sasuke led Naruto back to their flat, Temari watching them go in worry. They sat on the sofa whilst the porter came up and fixed the door, dodging questions about how it got broken, Naruto letting Sasuke take control of the situation. They turned the TV on once the porter was gone, and began watching some cooking show. Naruto leant on Sasuke’s shoulder, and closed his eyes, feeling an arm wrapping round him. He settled himself, until he felt his memories slowly fading.

 “No…” he muttered, and Sasuke lifted him up, making him open his eyes.

 “What’s wrong?”

 “I’m…forgetting…I need to remember…”

 “Tell the fox you want to remember…”

 “I don’t know how…”

_ “If you forget, it won’t hurt...” _ Came a voice, and Naruto turned, looking for it’s source.

 “I…need to remember what happened…”

_ “…If you insist. But I’m going to fade the memory so that it doesn’t hurt you, so that he can’t use it to make you suffer.” _ The voice faded, and he felt the memories soften, lose focus, and distance themselves as if they were from long ago, not from half an hour ago. He looked at Sasuke, who had his eyes shut. Once the fading settled, Sasuke opened his eyes.

 “…could you hear that?”

 “I come from a family of seers. I could see it.” Sasuke’s old smug smile was back, and he brushed Naruto’s hair out of his eyes. Naruto leant against the warmth of Sasuke’s hand, and was about to lean in, his eyes half shutting, into Sasuke’s warmth, towards his soft lips, when they heard the front door open, and Naruto flinched back. Kiba entered the living room, then grinned awkwardly.

 “Are we-” Kiba began, but then Sasuke pulled Naruto into a deep kiss, crushing his mouth against Naruto’s, biting the blonde’s lip, and pressing his body against him, wrapping his arms around Naruto’s waist, and pulling him in, one hand sliding down Naruto to the small of his back, the other going under Naruto’s hips and squeezing. Naruto stared in shock, but soon went limp, leaning into the kiss. Kiba stared at them, frozen, then backed away, whispering something to the girls, who giggled, and a door shut as they all went into one room.

 Naruto couldn’t think of anything, of the consequences, of the things that had just happened, his head was full of Sasuke’s touch, his lips, the smell, again, of chocolate, their bodies pressed together as Sasuke pulled Naruto onto his lap, their embrace, the warmth, the passion. Naruto couldn’t even hear what remained of the voice, all he could do was feel Sasuke, and pant as they broke apart, only to be pulled back into the kiss. Eventually they parted, Naruto resting his head on Sasuke’s shoulder.

 “That…was amazing.” He breathed.

 “I’m glad you liked it.” Sasuke smirked. Naruto leant in, silently asking for more, but the raven hung back. “You’re vulnerable right now. Even that kiss was slightly over-stepping boundaries.”

 “What? No! I want to…”

 “Naruto, I don’t want you to regr-” Suddenly there was a yell of “SHIT” from Kiba, and Sakura’s door burst open, the brunette skidding into the room.

 “YOU GUYS CAN FUCK LATER, WE COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT THE PRESENTATION!”

 “OH FUCK!” Naruto cried, falling off the sofa in his attempt to get up.

 “Jeez guys, calm down.” Ino said, entering the room, closely followed by the other girls and the dog. “We still have the rest of today and tomorrow morning to finish it. And we did some research.”

 “IT WON’T BE ENOUGH!” Kiba yelled at the ceiling. “I NEED TO TEACH SAKURA HOW TO DANCE WITH ME AND AKAMARU, WE NEED TO MAKE A POSTER, WE WERE GOING TO MAKE INTERACTIVE DOG PUPPETS…”

 “I…don’t remember agreeing to puppets…” Ino said, bemused, “but we’ll just have to tone it down a bit. We can do a poster on dog care, and have you demonstrating with Akamaru. You can teach Sakura some of the moves now. The rest of us will work on a poster and some pamphlets.”

 The rest of the evening was spent with Naruto drawing pictures of dogs, dog care diagrams, and dog anatomy, Sasuke writing the poster up, and Ino and Hinata designing the leaflets they would be handing out, meshing them with the drawings Naruto produced. Kiba spent his time practicing the dance routine with Sakura and Akamaru, being surprisingly patient with her when she made mistakes.

 “I’m sorry I keep messing up.” Sakura said after another failed attempt.

 “You have no idea how hard it was to teach Akamaru, teaching you is way easier.” He grinned, and Sakura seemed to cheer up slightly.

 “They’re getting on well.” Sasuke said, smirking at Ino.

 “Oh please, I’m not worried.” Ino scoffed, “He can teach her to dance with a dog, but I can teach her way more. Plus, I think Kiba likes people paying attention to his dog, but at the same time loves his dog so much that he overlooks the people around him.”

 “He cares about Naruto…” Hinata commented, looking through the diagrams.

 “He puts up with me more like.” Naruto grinned, and Hinata smiled back.

 “No, Hinata’s right.” Ino agreed. “The only two people Kiba sees in this world are Akamaru and Naruto.”

 “Akamaru isn’t a person.” Sasuke replied, blunt as usual.

 “Don’t let Kiba hear you say that.” Naruto said, grinning.

 As the evening grew dark, they one by one excused themselves on grounds of being tired, needing a shower, or in Ino’s case being unable to read what she was even writing anymore, and went to their rooms. Kiba grumbled ‘good enough’ when Sakura began to wobble from tiredness, and soon Naruto began to feel sleepy.

 “I’m going to bed.” He said, and went to his room, tagging Kiba in to take over from him. He shut his bedroom door just as he realised he’d left his phone in the other room. He opened his door gently so that he wouldn’t disturb the girls, but heard Sasuke’s voice, and something made him pause.

 “…and it’s about Naruto.” The blonde twitched at his name. “Something happened when we came back.” Naruto silently shut his door. He didn’t need to hear this. He didn’t want to. His memories had already faded so that they no longer hurt, but he felt ashamed. Staring at his door, he swore he’d become stronger. He would beat this, whatever  _ this _ was.


End file.
